Celluloid Life
by Arsenal Averson
Summary: While faternal twins Rose and Zero Lawrence's ultra-AList actor father films a movie trilogy in Japan the twins go to Ouran where they meet up again with their childhood friends Kaoru and Hikaru who drags Zero in to host club. Ha/T, Ky/OC, Hi/OC
1. Bloom

Disclaimer: Insert crap about how OHSHC doesn't belong to me. Though everything else (but the designer clothes and crap ;_;) I do own.

Rating may change later on.

As alway, please read and review!

I hope you enjoy it!!

btw, the bold paragrahs will be gossip blogs.

* * *

**Lawrence family relocates to Tokyo**

**Super A-lister actor David Lawrence is relocating to Tokyo, Japan while shooting his new project about Japan opening up to the west. He has been contracted for three movies and the twins are in hardcore Japanese language classes to prepare for Tokyo's Ouran High School, a ultra private school for the super privileged. "The twins are delighted to be moving to Tokyo. They've been researching and packing for the last two weeks." Jack Nelson, Lawrence's person assistant, reports. When asked about Rose's recent diagnoses and hospital stay and how the move will affect her he replied; "The state of health of either of the twins in none of the public's business."**

**The family has purchased a house in a exclusive neighborhood in Tokyo that once belonged to an international business man. They plan to move in after the interior has been furnished and after the twins complete their school year. But where is mommy Bianca during the move? "Bianca is on tour and won't join the family until the tour has ended." Nelson told our staff. How are the children handling this news? A friend of the family stated that the twins were more upset over the fact that they wouldn't have a summer break before beginning their junior year in high school and how far behind they will be compared to their classmates.**

((()))

"Rose! We're going to be late!" Zero yelled at his sister as he knotted his tie. One of the maids was fixing her thick, curly, red/brown hair into a perfect coifed ponytail with a purple ribbon. She turned to her brother and silently flipped him off. Rose picked up a compact from her vanity and applied blush to the apple of her cheeks. Zero tapped his foot as she picked a brush, another larger compact, and a hand mirror. "We don't have time! We still have breakfast to eat!"

"I already ate." She told him and he tore off down the stairs, angry that he had been courteous enough to wait for her and she blew him off. Rose went on applying eye shadow, mascara, eye liner, lipstick, and lip gloss until she thought that she was presentable and went downstairs to wait with her brother.

"I don't know why you wear makeup. You don't need it and you always got for that 'natural' look anyways." Zero said between mouthfuls of food.

"It's revolting that you talk with your mouthful of food." Rose commented. "I like makeup and I look better in it."

"You look better without it." Zero told her.

"That's not what…" Rose didn't finish her sentence but Zero knew how it ended. "Anyways, you realize I wake up an hour earlier than you because I have to eat a large breakfast because of my hypoglycemia, right?"

"I forgot." Zero tucked into his breakfast after Jack came into the dining room and pointed to his watch which meant that they had to hurry or they'd be late.

"Rose, do you have your candy?" Jack asked her as they made their way to the front door. Rose reached into her Hermes briefcase and felt four pieces of hard candy.

"Yeah, I do." She told him.

"Cell phones?"

"Yes."

"Student ID's?"

"Yes."

"Good, your driver will pick you up after school." Jack told them and they turned to go to the car but Jack stopped them. "Your father would like you two to join a club at school by the end of the week so look into it today. Have a good day at school."

"Thanks, have a good day at work." They said in unison. The door to the Rolls Royce was opened for them by their driver and they got inside.

"You excited?" Zero asked her.

"I am very sleepy right now so it really hasn't kicked in. I'm not happy about going directly from 10th to 11th grade and not having a break. " She replied looking out the window at the other mansions that lined the street. She saw a couple of chauffeured cars with teenagers wearing the Ouran uniform in the back. "By the way, don't the Hitachiin twins go to Ouran?" She asked her brother who perked up.

"Yeah, they do. They would be first years right now." Zero said with a smile. Rose leaned over, grinning.

"Aw! Baby Z still has a crush on wittle Hikaroow Hitawchiin? So ca-ute!!" Rose teased him, pinching his cheek. Zero scowled at her and grabbed her wrist.

"Stop pinching me." He said and pulled her hand away, rubbing his cheek. "You did a 180 in no time."

"My blood sugar is up again and I feel better." Rose told him. "I have a feeling that today is going to be a good day! I saw a blue bird this morning!"

)))(((

"So today is the day that we get the transfer students from America!" Ayame, the class rep of 2-A, said in excitement.

"I saw them this morning! It's so exciting having the Lawrence Twins as our classmates! They are almost as famous as their father!" Another girl said. "Rose is so beautiful! She has gorgeous long curly hair and they both have bright ice-blue eyes. Rose is about 172 cm tall and Zero is about 180 cm. he's so handsome!"

"Of course they're good looking! Their father is the sexiest man alive!" One other girl said.

"Forget that! Have you seen their mother? She's unbelievably hot!" A male student retorted.

The conversation before class was cut short when the teacher walked in with the Lawrence twins. The room erupted in whispered chatter when the two stopped and turned to face their classmates. There was no way someone could see the two and not that they were twins. They had the same coloring, lightly tanned skin, bright green eyes, and brown/red hair. Both had lush lips though Rose's were far fuller than her brother. Both had the same general body structure, long legs, thin waist, Rose had an ample bust and Zero had wide shoulders and defined chest and stomach muscles. In short, Rose looked like the female version of Zero and Zero the male version of Rose. The two were popular with the tabloids and gossip blogs because of their good looks. Not to mention every other person they came into contact with. It made it hard to trust some people.

"Alright everybody, we have two new students with us this semester. Rose and Zero Lawrence are from L.A. and will be studying at Ouran while their father films a movie series here in Tokyo. I hope that you all will welcome them." The teacher said without pomp and circumstance. "Would you two like to say a few words?"

"Hello, nice to meet you all." They said in unison.

"Alright, if you two could take the seats behind Tamaki and Kyoya we'll begin class." The teacher said. The twins looked around and saw a blond guy grinning stupidly and waving at them, next to him was a guy in glasses who watched them apathetically. Behind them were two empty seats so they figured they were Tamaki and Kyoya. They took their seats, Rose behind the guy in glasses and Zero behind the blond who turned to them quickly.

"Hello! I'm Tamaki Suoh and this is Kyoya Ootori. We're so glad to have you in our class!" He said too loudly which made the Americans blanch. Everyone turned to look at Tamaki and the twins.

"Tamaki! Class has started!" The teacher warned him.

"You idiot." Kyoya hissed at Tamaki. He smiled politely at Rose, "I'm sorry about him."

"Uh-huh." Rose said nodding her head. She put her bag on her desk and laid out her books and things for class.

Class went as well as could be expected for two people who didn't speak Japanese as their native language. Rose and Zero made it through to lunch break and made it to the cafeteria, successfully avoiding any curious classmates that wanted to ask questions.

"We should buy tape recorders, that was brutal!" Rose told him as they entered the cafeteria. It was busy and several people turned to look at them. Rose blushed, she had always been shy and being in a new school was never easy for her. She was thankful that her brother was with her. "Want to find Hikaru and Kaoru?"

"Yes." Zero, with his hands in the pockets of his black uniform slacks, looked around the crowded room for the familiar red-head.

"Oi! Zero, Rose, over here!" And said red-head shouted across the cafeteria waving frantically. Zero smiled at waved back at him.

"Hey!" He shouted back at him. "Come on Rose, let's join them." He grabbed her hand and pulled her in the direction of the table the other twins occupied. When they reached them Hikaru and Kaoru were grinning and hugged them both, Hikaru's hug lingered with Zero a moment too long but Rose noticed it.

"I can't believe it! You two at Ouran!" Hikaru said. Rose noticed Tamaki and Kyoya sitting at the table along with a short blond kid that looked like he belonged in elementary school and a tall guy with black hair. Hikaru pushed Tamaki out of his seat so Zero could sit next to him. Rose sat next to the tall boy across from her brother. "I haven't seen you since Milan fashion week last year! How's it going? Are you still playing guitar and the drums? Did you get a break? I heard that American schools just got out."

"How has Tokyo been? Didn't you get into acting Rose? Are you both still playing music? What club are you going to join?" Kaoru asked in tandem of his brother. The last question had the group looking up at them in curiosity.

"Hey, hey! One question at a time!" Zero said waving at hand at them. "We didn't get a break which really sucks. School got out on May 8th. Yeah I'm still into music and acting and so is Rose. We've written a lot of music for the drums and guitar or the drums and the cello recently. So far Tokyo has been really great but we haven't really had time to look around. As for clubs I don't know what's offered so I can't really answer that."

"I did do some acting last year while we were living in New York City. I was on _The Force_ as a serial killer in a story arch! It was great! I don't know what club I want to join but I'm guessing there's an orchestra? That may be something I'll look into. Dad said we should join one before the end of the week or something." Rose answered for herself. "If there's western fencing I'd totally go for that too."

"Wait, how do you know these devilish twins?" Tamaki stood and asked in horror.

"Our auntie Camilla is a fashion designer and we usually go to Paris, Milan, and New York fashion week with her. We met the twins when we were kids. They were there with their mother." Rose told her classmate.

"Oh." Tamaki settled back down.

"You going to introduce to your friends or are you going to be completely rude?" Rose said to the other twins.

"You already know Tamaki and Kyoya I guess since you're in the same class." Hikaru said.

"Yes, we sit behind them." Rose smiled at her classmates.

"This is Honey-senpai from 3-A." Kaoru said, indicating the short blond kid. Rose and Zero were shocked to find that he was their senpai. "And this is Mori-senpai."

"Hello! Nice to meet you! I'm Rose Lawrence." Rose said with a smile and Zero introduced himself. Honey-senpai giggled and said hello, Mori-senpai kind of grunted and nodded at her.

"What are you doing after classes?" Tamaki asked Rose, taking her hand in his.

"Uh, I was going to look into clubs. Why?" Rose asked cautiously and tried to rescue her hand from the blond man.

"You should come visit our host club!" He pronounced in glee.

"What's a host club?" Rose and Zero asked.

* * *


	2. Club

Hello! disclaimer in the previous chapter still stands.

Reviews are awesome and loved like a fatty loves cake!!

BTW: The _Italic _words in "quotation marks" are the twins speaking in English to each other.

Just so you know.

Enjoy!

~Arsenal Averson

* * *

Rose walked to the music room since she didn't have club activities that day to find her brother. They had been at Ouran High School for a week now and Rose was still a little too shy to stay away from her brother for long. She would find her brother and wait for him in the music room. By the end of the first week Hikaru and Tamaki had talked Zero into joining the Host Club and Rose had joined the orchestra and western fencing clubs.

She reached the door and was welcomed by her brother and the others. She stopped and shook her head. This was the strangest club she had ever heard of and this was the first time that she would see it firsthand. She was curious as to what went on here and what her brother did. She propped her cello case on a nearby chair. She wanted to practice at home and decided to bring it with her.

"Hello." Rose said with a little wave. She then realized she wasn't feeling _normal_. "I just wannen to check out what yo-your club is about." She said. Mori came to take her cello and put it in the back room for the moment.

"Would like to pick a host?" Kyoya asked. Rose didn't know what she wanted; she would rather hang around Zero than inconvenience anyone by talking and it was currently very stuttered and mashed together today.

"I dan-din-" Rose stopped talking for a moment to restart her brain, "I _don't _want to b-b-be a bother to any of guys." She refused politely. She imagined that the experience would be rather awkward since she wasn't really comfortable with anything flirtatious when she really didn't want it.

"You won't be." Kyoya said, pushing his glasses back up his face. Rose glared at him, he was being rather pushy and she didn't like that. She clenched her fists and counted to ten. "If you don't know what you want why don't you go sit with Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai." She knew of Kyoya's reputation, that he collected information about people and allies that were valuable to his family's business. Getting her to sit down and talk might be of some advantage to him. Her parents' maybe entertainers but they had some power in the business world and not to mention her mother's father. In the end it didn't matter if she didn't want to visit a host today or not she was already being pulled over to a cluster of chairs and table by a freakishly strong short kid and she didn't have the energy to object anymore.

"Hello Rose-chan!" Honey said as she sat down in front of them. "Would you like some cake?" Rose frowned.

"No thank you. Not hungry." She told him. She knew she should eat. She was starting to feel weak. She bowed her head, she felt so weak. Rose could also feel Mori's eyes on her. _How rude! Staring at me!_She thought. She clinched her fists in her fugly yellow uniform and counted to ten because she really wanted to punch something. She hated when all the symptoms just rushed at her all at once. But she had been feeling weak and irritated earlier today so it was possible it had started sometime after lunch.

"You don't look well. Do you want to hold Usa-chan?" Honey held out the pink bunny and Rose took it.

"Uh, thanks." She said, she felt nauseous and her skin was clammy. Rose looked down at the little rabbit and smiled a little before setting it on the table. "You're right…don't feel well." She confessed, looking into Mori's worried eyes. Rose could feel her heartbeat speed up, and speed up even more without stopping. This wasn't just a fluttering heart. _It's just tachycardia._ She thought. _Oh shit, that's not good..._ She needed to get up, she needed to move around and she'll feel better.

Rose stood up and she felt dizzy, her vision blurred. She walked a few feet and stumbled, she crashed into an empty table, her hip getting jabbed sharply in the process. Her head hit the marble floor with a sickening smack. The room erupted in panic, girls were shouting at the hosts to do something, asking what happened. Zero was at her side immediately.

"Jesus Rose!" Zero lifted her from where she laid sprawled on the floor. He looked up at Mori, "Could you go get her bag?"

"Is she OK? What happened?" Haruhi asked the older twin. Mori came back and handed it over. He watched intently as Zero took a small electronic from her bag.

"She's diabetic?" Kyoya asked him with interest and wrote something in his notebook.

"No, she's hypoglycemic." He said. Zero pricked her finger with a needle from the bag and dipped the loaded blood sugar monitor strip into a drop of her blood.

"Ow." Rose looked up at her brother. "That….ow." She couldn't say anymore. In a moment the monitor beeped and a number was displayed. Kyoya looked over his shoulder and his eyebrows arched.

"God Rose!" Zero said in anger. "How can you let your blood sugar get so low!"

"Whu..?" She took the monitor from her brother. She knew what she was looking at but couldn't comprehend why the number was bad. "So?"

"It's 49! Your blood sugar should be between 99 and 70!" He yelled at her. "Hikaru, could you go get her a soda?" He asked his friend before he turned back to her bag. The concerned brother pulled a strawberries-and-cream flavored Chup Chup lollipop from her bag. Zero unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth. There wasn't anything else in the bag, he learned after dumping the contents onto the floor. "Shit, she should have more on her."

"What's going on Zero? Is she sick?" Hikaru asked as he handed over the can of Pepsi he found. He kneeled down next to Zero and looked over the other Lawrence sibling.

"Sort of, she's hypoglycemic without diabetes which means she has low blood sugar so when it gets low she needs quick sugar like a non-diet soda or sugar cubes or hard candy." He told him. Zero sat Rose up, taking the lollipop from her, and forced her to drink the Pepsi. Rose drank it eagerly, her hands grasped it weakly. Zero popped the confection back into her mouth when she was done and Rose sat up on her own.

"It's so sweet to see you take care of your sister Zero-kun!" One of the girls said.

"It's very mature of you!" Another fawned over him. Girls were gathering around him so Rose scooted away from her brother and bumped into Haruhi.

"Are you feeling better?" Haruhi asked. Rose nodded, sucking intently on the lollipop. She eyed the boy; there was something _off_about him. She couldn't figure it out. Rose had learned from the Hitachiins that Haruhi was the scholarship student and a commoner. That wasn't what was so off about Haruhi though. "You have hypoglycemia? I've heard of that. You're really lucky you don't have diabetes."

"Yeah I know." She said, she watched Haruhi who didn't look away from her eyes. "It may progress when I get older, I've only been living with it for two months now. I ended up in the hospital after I had a seizure because of my low blood sugar." She narrowed her eyes at Haruhi. What was it about him that was nagging at her? It dawned on her and she barely suppressed a grin.

Club activities didn't last much longer and Rose stood up as the customers filtered out, a dish of sugar cubes in her hand. She plopped one in to her mouth and waved with the host club. When the last girl closed the door behind them Rose decided to confront Haruhi and the others with her discovery.

"You're a girl aren't you Haruhi?" Rose asked her. The twins and Tamaki freaked out. The others just looked at her in either interest or amusement.

"WHAT? HOW DID YOU-?" Tamaki shouted. He turned her around, gripping her by the shoulders. "HOW DID YOU KNOW?! TELL ME!!!"

"Well, how do I put this?" Rose looked up at the ceiling as she thought of how to explain it. "Haruhi is the only that hasn't stared at my rack since I got here. Even gay guys check out my rack. Plus, when I researched Ouran before coming here I learned that there was only one scholarship student and that _she_was a first year. There was an article about it in the newspaper. Even if there wasn't a picture or name with the story it wasn't hard to figure out you know. " She looked at Haruhi who didn't really care one way or another.

"Even though you are correct I'm sure that not everyone has—" Kyoya began. Rose looked over her shoulder at him, her eyebrows knitted.

"All of you checked me out." She said.

"I—" He tried to say again.

"_All_of you." She repeated. "Including you Kyoya, don't pretend that you didn't." Hikaru and Zero laughed. Kyoya frowned and wrote something in his notebook. "Anyways, not like it matters. If you want to pretend to be a boy in the host club it's really none of my business."

"Yeah, you're right. You really don't care what I'm doing dressed up like a boy?" She asked. Rose shook her head. Haruhi was beginning to warm up to the American girl.

"Well, I'll be heading home. You coming Zero?" Rose asked as she went to get her cello.

"Yeah," He turned back to the host club and waved goodbye. "See you all tomorrow!" Zero said with a smile. Hikaru caught his eyes and smiled back.

"Zero…" Kyoya called his classmate back. Zero turned around as he met Rose at the door. The Shadow King pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with a grin. "We're going to be going to Okinawa this month, if you and your sister would like to join us you're more than welcome."

The Lawrence twins looked at each other. "Yeah! We'd love to!" They said in unison.

)))(((

Rose had finished her homework – well, she and her brother had finished their homework together -- and was looking down at a very antsy Siberian husky named Juno. Juno had Rose's knee captive under her head, her fluffy tail wagging when she moved to get her leash that was flung onto the sofa near her desk. She barked when Rose hooked the leash to her collar.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. We're going for a walk." She told her.

It was getting dark when they left the property but she didn't really care. Juno was a good guard dog and could protect her if she needed it. The neighborhood was safe anyways. Juno walked next to Rose as they exited the property. Rose took her iPhone out of the pocket of her dark denim mini-skirt to check her e-mail. She had one from a friend she'd known for a long time. One from her aunt she'd have to read later. She was surprised to find that she also had an e-mail from Haruhi asking her for help with her English homework. It read:

Rose,

I was hoping that you could help me with my English homework. I don't think I did it very well. Could you help me tomorrow before classes start? It's only a short paper so it shouldn't take long.

Thank you,

Haruhi

Rose shot her back an e-mail telling her that she'd be happy to and she'd meet her in the library which was close to both of their classrooms. Rose was just finishing the message and put her phone away as they neared the gate in front of the house next to theirs. She didn't notice the person standing in the gate watching her until Juno stopped and started to growl. Rose saw the shadowy figure and screamed causing a chain reaction; Juno, going into protection mode, growled and yanked on her leash. Rose was still surprised from the person standing in the gate and was caught off guard. She tripped and fell when Juno pulled. It was lucky that Rose hadn't let go of the leash and the dog hadn't attacked.

"Juno! _Heel!" _Rose commanded as she sat up. Juno turned around and started whining when she found her owner unhappy and bleeding from a skinned knee.

"Rose?" An unfamiliar voice asked from the gate. The girl looked up to see that Mori-senpai, dressed in a kendo uniform, was standing over her. He offered her his hand. "Are you alright?" The older teenager asked as he pulled her to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Juno just isn't used to the new neighborhood yet. I should have been paying attention." She said shyly. Mori looked down at her knee and frowned.

"You're bleeding. Come inside." Mori told her. He turned and walked towards the house, Rose didn't know what to do. She hadn't asked for help and she didn't really know Mori well enough to go inside his house. Not only that, he didn't talk (according to Zero) and she wasn't comfortable with being alone with him with nothing to say. But she was curious about him. The twins had always been overly curious when it came to people. How they acted, moved, talked, what they believed in, how they reacted to situations, it fascinated them. It was something that they inherited from their father; it was what made him such a great actor. So Rose fallowed him to his house anyways. "You said you practice western fencing, right?"

"Yeah, since I was a kid." Rose didn't add anything else. She was surprised. Mori's home and gardens were very traditional. It was a completely different place compared to her place, a western style mansion. There were a lot of Sakura trees and if she looked hard enough through them she could see her bedroom. She wondered if Mori could hear her when she, sporadically, sang out on her balcony or by the pool. _Uh…that's kind of embarrassing. I need to remember to stop doing crap like that._ She thought.

"Have you ever tried kendo?" He asked her as she tied Juno to a tree. The husky obediently sat and didn't move.

"No." She replied. Rose smiled up at him. "Have you ever tried fencing?"

"No." He smiled back at her.

"It's interesting, you might like it." She said as she followed him into his house. Rose took off her camel colored Ugg boots and laid them next to his. Mori lead her into the kitchen where he took out a first aid kit. "I had no idea you lived next door. I would have come over and said 'hello' or something." Mori told her to sit on the counter so she did what she was told and hopped up onto the kitchen counter.

"It's ok, I'm just as guilty. You probably didn't know that Kyoya lives two houses down either." Mori told her as he cleaned the scrape on her knee.

_If he doesn't talk, like Zero and the twins say, why is he talking so much to me? _Rose wondered. She blushed; maybe he liked her better than the rest. Maybe he was just out of character right now.

"He does?" Rose was curious as to what kind of house her calculating classmate lived in. She could see him living in something akin to Frank Lloyd Wright's design with perfect right angles. His bedroom was probably perfect, no dust, no clutter, like a hospital. Though she was curious she seemed to have perceived and eager because Mori was frowning.

"Yes." Mori said as he put a bandage on her knee. "I hope it doesn't scar."

"Yeah, that would suck. I've been doing a lot of modeling recently and the more _pristine _a model's body is the better." She joked. Mori raised an eyebrow at her.

"Modeling?" He asked her.

"Yup! Hold on a second and I'll show you." Rose said as she dug her phone out of her pocket. Scrolling through the pictures she saved on it she came to a picture from Elle magazine she had been in. She was wearing a black Prada swimsuit, aviator sunglasses, and Prada heels laying next a pool with her chest thrust out looking rather sexy for a 17-year-old. Mori's eyes widened and handed her phone back to her.

"Do you enjoy it?" He asked her. Rose wondered what he really thought about the picture. Most people would say that she looked hot or that she was too young to be in a photo like that.

"Hmm? I guess so. It can be demanding and strange when you have all those strangers watching you but I guess it's expected of me." She told him. "Me being the daughter of Bianca Rococo and David Lawrence and all, everyone expects Zero and I to go into the entertainment business. It really sucks, both of us have talent in both fields but we don't compare to our parents."

"That would be hard." He said but Rose's phone started to vibrate. It was a text message.

_From Zero: Where are you? _

Rose panicked for a moment. How long had she been here? She texted her brother back saying that she would be home soon.

"Um, Zero's wondering where I am. I should go. Thanks for the first aid! Take care!" Rose said as she hopped off the counter. He followed her to the front door and watched as she untied an unhappy Juno from the tree.

"Good night Rose." He said, waving to her as made her way to the front gate. She waved back and smiled at him.

_So Mori's my neighbor? That's good to know. He talked to me! I wonder if he likes me?_Rose wondered, she turned around and saw that Mori was still watching her. _It's a possibility…_

)))(((

Rose made her way to the library as soon as her driver dropped them off. Haruhi would have made it earlier than she did since she took the bus to school.

"Where are you going?" Zero asked her when she walked ahead of him. He was confused; they usually didn't split up at school. The two were very close since they were twins, though they weren't as close as the Hitachiin twins. They could separate for about a day before one-or-the-other got antsy and depressed.

"I told Haruhi I'd look over her English paper with her before class." She told him. "I'm meeting her in the library."

"Oh, ok then." He said, turning around and fallowing her. "I'll go with you, I have look for a book anyways."

"Fine." She turned to look at her brother. His head was down and is hands in his pockets. Usually Zero had his head held high and his shoulders back. She watched as her brother took his cell phone out of his pocket and checked his text messages. He sighed and put it back into his pocket. When they entered the library he just sighed and went over to one of the stacks. "_What's the matter with you? Something happen?"_ She asked him in English. He ignored her. "_Zero? Hello?" _He ignored her again. "ZERO!" People were watching them now but she didn't care, Rose was annoyed with being ignored. She was so annoyed she didn't notice that Haruhi and a few other members of the Host Club had come over to join them. "_ZEPHYRRO RURYK LAWRENCE!"_

_"ROSABELLA ZOYENKA LAWERENCE! STOP YELLING IN THE LIBRARY!" _He yelled back at her in English. The use of either of their full names always put them in a combative mood. "I am perfectly fine _Zoyenka_, no need to use full names."

"_Go fuck yourself_ _Zephyrro_!" Rose yelled back at him and saluted hit with one slender, well manicured middle finger. "_And don't call me Zoyenka you dickhead_!"

"Zeh-fear-oh…Row-Rar-…Roorick?" Hikaru tried the name out and it didn't sound right.

"Yes, our parents gave us retarded names. They wanted us to have different names, unfortunately neither of us could pronounce our names until we were at least 8 and we started calling each other Zero and Rose and it stuck." Zero told him. "We don't use our names. It's an insult."

"Whatever, you really are a total prick. You know that right?" Rose said then turned to Haruhi. "Let's go Haruhi; what did you want me to look at?"

Rose spent half an hour before classes started going over Haruhi's paper, which had only a few mistakes to begin with, and helping her with her reading assignment. Zero was messing around with the twins in the corner of the library. Kyoya was on his computer nearby. When she looked up she thought she caught him staring at someone. She forgot about the moment after because the bell was ringing and Zero was chasing Hikaru out of the library.

"I have a feeling that this year is going to be eventful." Rose said with a smile.

"What was that?" Kyoya asked her.

"Nothing."


	3. Beach

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the Lawrence family and Jack and the dogs.

A/N: Honestly not putting much into this so it's not as good as my other writing. I also have some original fiction I've been working on but I had to get this out of my head so here it is. Please review and let me know what you think needs work or what you would like to see. I don't know if this will be finished or not. I just want to write and get this out there, hopefully get some feedback along the way.

By the way, this is set during "the Sun, the Sea, and the Host Club" (duh) and I messed around with the timing of the events in the episode.

Thank you!

~Arsenal Averson

"Beach time!" Rose sang happily as she exited her house with her brother armed with a Louis Vuitton duffle bag, large purple Prada purse, and sunglasses.

"That dress looks great! Good choice." Hikaru commented on her black and turquoise zigzag patterned, silk chiffon halter dress.

"Shoes are great too." Kaoru added.

"Thanks! They're Jimmy Choo." She said as she got into the limo. "I'm so excited! I really haven't seen much of Japan since moving here!"

"Everybody here? Let's go." Kyoya said to no one specific. Rose popped a piece of passion fruit flavored rock candy into her mouth. With that they were off to the airport.

))))((((

"Yay! We're here!" Rose was excited. She had attacked a six pack of Pepsi in the plane and the bag of passion fruit rock candy their chef had made her. Unfortunately, caffeine and sugar usually made her hyper if she didn't need the sugar. And even more unfortunate, Zero and Rose tended to be on the same behavior wave length as each other. That is to say, if Rose was hyper so was Zero. If Zero was mellow Rose would eventually mellow out. One may behave differently for a while longer but in the end they had the same moods.

"Awesome! I'm going to the beach!" Zero declared, grabbing Rose's hand. "Come on!"

"I'm not wearing my swimsuit!" Rose yelled in an oddly happy tone.

"To the house!" Zero said with a dramatic point to the Ootori mansion.

"To the house!" Rose giggled and jumped on her brother's back, nearly losing a shoe in the process. The other watched, exasperated, as Zero carried his sister into the house behind a butler.

"I told you." Kaoru said to his own twin. "Caffeine and the Lawrence's don't mix." The others fallowed the Lawrence twins into the house.

"Only in large quantities, I'm sure they'll mellow down in a bit." Hikaru replied as he watched Rose try to climb onto her brother's shoulders. She failed miserably and ended up toppling both of them. "But enjoy the entertainment while it lasts!" Rose was yelling at her brother in English while Zero sang, very poorly, in another language.

"Would you just have a glass of wine of something and shut up!" Tamaki yelled at the two Americans standing at the top of the main staircase.

"NO!" They said in unison, stomping their left feet in an act of childish defiance. "We prefer beer!" They beamed, holding hands, their heads tilted to one side, grinning like devils.

"Um…the drinking age is 20 in Japan." Haruhi pointed out to them.

"That's ok. We're been drinking for a few years!" Rose told her. The others looked a little disturbed by it, minus Tamaki.

"That's illegal." Haruhi said.

"This is a private house. I don't see how one beer will hurt. Europeans have a very good relationship with alcohol." Kyoya said and had a maid bring the siblings a beer each.

"They're Americans Kyoya-senpai and Americans don't exactly have the best reputation when it comes to alcohol." Haruhi pointed out. The maid returned handing them both a cold pilsner and popped the cap off for them. The two went halfway down the stairs since they were now in the middle of a conversation and it was more polite to be closer to the ones they were talking to.

"Actually, Haruhi, the only reason we're American—" Rose began and took a swig of her beer.

"—is because we were born in L.A." Zero finished for her. "Our mother is from Italy."

"And our father is Slavic, he was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia. His real name is _Alojze __Potočnik._" Rose confessed. "His family came to American when he was 6 years-old. He became an American citizen about 14 years ago. Dad changed his name when he became an actor and nobody knew otherwise so they just assumed he was American."

"And if you ask an American they would say that we really don't have much of an American accent." Said Zero.

"Our father has one because he was so young when he came to America." Rose told the group.

"Oh? I didn't know that." Hikaru said curiously. Kyoya wrote something down in a notebook.

"So, we've spent a lot of time in Europe, mostly Italy and France, and there is no drinking age there." Zero told them. "There for, we have been drinking for a few years because beer and wine is the best thing to drink there." The two sat down and started drinking.

"So how many languages do you speak?" Haruhi asked a little amazed.

"Hmm…well, Italian, Slovenian, French, German, English, and Japanese. We moved a lot because of dad's work. We were living in France and Germany for our first year of high school because dad was shooting a movie about World War II. Before that we were living in Paris because dad was in a movie about the French Revolution. And England before that, Rome and Venice before that…it goes on and on." Rose told her and downed the last bit of beer from the bottle. "Anyways, you have successfully calmed us down and you now know that beer is our prozac. Let's hit the beach!" Rose said. "I'm going to go change."

"Me too. See ya!" Zero said, fallowing his sister up the stairs.

"Did you know that they were Slovenian?" Hikaru asked Kaoru.

"I had no idea." Kaoru turned his questioning eyes to Kyoya.

"Neither did I. In fact, I know very little about them. Their father's personal assistant does a very good job keeping personal information about the family out of the press." Kyoya confessed. "I didn't know their full names until recently in fact."

"Those two are more interesting than I thought they would be." Haruhi said absentmindedly.

))))((((

Rose decided to unpack her things before going down to the beach, which took longer than she thought it would. She put on a black Prada bikini trimmed in red and had three small rhinestones on the waistband and the top of the each cup of the top that tied in the back. Her Dior silver and clear crystal teddy bear pendent was still around her neck and decided to keep it on. She slipped on a light wash denim mini skirt that had a fraying hem and a small, worn hole in the front and black flip-flops with three rows of rhinestones on the straps of them. Rose pulled out a beach tote she had stuffed into her duffle bag and put in her teal and yellow print Emilio Pucci, a tube of sun block, a thick paperback novel in English she had been reading on-and-off since the plane ride over the Pacific weeks ago, her cell phone, earbud headphones, and digital camera. Grabbing her sunglasses and bag she dashed out the door. She was probably the last out of the house, she couldn't hear anyone else.

She made her way to the beach and was startled to find that the host club clients had invaded their vacation. Sighing, Rose put down her towel and started to rub her sunscreen on.

"Isn't she going to lay under the umbrella? She's going to get really tanned!" She heard one of Tamaki's clients say. The group of girls watched her as slathered the lotion onto her already tanned skin.

_Not like it matters, I'm already really tan. What is it with girls and women in this country obsessing over not tanning?_ Rose thought with a sigh as she rolled onto her back and slipped out of the mini skirt. She cracked open her book and started reading.

She didn't stay still for long. After about half an hour she was up and strolling down the beach watching the girls and her new friends. There was a small commotion around Tamaki, who was holding a crab, when a bug crawled out of its shell. Haruhi flicked the thing onto the rocks and walked off. After the Hitachiin twins and Tamaki quarreled over Haruhi, eventually ending in a game to see who could discover what Haruhi was afraid of. Everyone joined in, even Mori, and the Lawrence twins joined in too. The prize, pictures of Haruhi, which Rose had no interest in, she was only looking for a occupy herself away from the Host Club clients.

Rose's logic was if her brother was afraid of it then it was possible that Haruhi was too. She was running around the neighborhood in nothing but her bathing suit and miniskirt looking for one. She found one resting in the bushes near a house.

"Sorry, I gotta use you for a moment." She grabbed the black thing that was wearing a red collar with a bell on it. "Why do you have a tag on your ear?" She asked poking the complacent beast's ear where there was a small metal thing clipped into its ear. "Oh well."

Rose walked back down the beach, looking for Haruhi. She spotted her on the edge of the sea with an empty bucket in hand.

"Hey Haruhi! Look what I found!" Rose held the black cat in front of Haruhi's face. "Do you like cats?"

"They're ok, I guess." Haruhi said turning back to whatever she was doing. Rose frowned, her plan hadn't worked.

_Damn it, she's not afraid of cats._ She thought. Then an idea came to her and she grinned like a demon. Off in the distance she saw Zero talking to the Hitachiin twins and Kyoya. "Sorry kitty, I need to barrow you for a few more minutes." She told the sleepy cat, holding it close to her chest and petting it in order to keep it calm for a few more moments. She walked in a wide arch so she could come up behind her brother.

"Everybody is afraid of something." Hikaru said.

"Nothing really scares me." Zero said proudly. Rose snickered from behind him. She held the cat a few inches from the back of his head.

"Is that so Zero?" She asked and he turned around. The cat yawned a loud _meow_ and Zero took off screaming and crying. Rose chased after him, laughing wickedly.

"_GET THAT THING THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" _He yelled at her.

"_NO WAY IN HELL! THIS IS TOO MUCH FUN!!" _She laughed as she ran after him.

"_ROSABELLA YOU'RE AN EPIC BITCH!" _

"_And you're an epic sissy!" _

_"STOP FUCKING AROUND! I'M SERIOUS!!" _Zero ran past Haruhi at full tilt. He stopped and walked back towards her. "Are those crabs?" He asked her, looking into her bucket.

"Yeah." She replied and bent down to pick up a sea urchin. Zero picked the biggest one out of her bucket and told her he'd give it back to her. Rose stood behind him, her laugh of mirth was dying down and her sides were hurting. She didn't even wonder why he stopped. Zero turned around and held a huge crab in her face. Rose screamed and ran in the other direction. When she was a safe distance from her brother she let the cat go.

"Run kitty! Save yourself!" Rose told it and the cat sprinted off. "_ZERO YOU ASSHOLE! I HAVE A DAMN GOOD REASON FOR BEING AFRAID OF SEA FOOD AND FISH!!" _She yelled back at him. "_I don't have my Epipen with me you tremendous dickhead!" _

"It's not cooked!" He yelled. Rose stopped and turned to her brother, he hadn't seen his sister this angry in a long time, and the terror that struck his heart had stopped him in his tracks.

"_I'M ALERGIC TO IT RAW TOO YOU TREMENDOUS DUMBASS!" _She yelled and picked up a rock. She threw the rock as hard and fast as a professional baseball pitcher and it hit him right in the gonads. He buckled and dropped the crab who scurried away as fast as possible back to the sea.

"Oh God! Ow!! _You bitch!" _He yelled at her in pain but deep down he knew he disserved it. Hikaru and a few girls came running to his aid. In the chaos Rose slipped away and hid behind the big rock gutting out above the sea.

Rose hid behind the rock for about half an hour and she couldn't hear her brother's whining any longer but she wasn't about to risk bodily harm to herself if her brother was still pissed. So she stayed put. She could hear the girls on the rock above her and then, a moment later, there were two unfamiliar male voices joined in. Rose climbed up the rock in time to see one of them push Haruhi off the rock.

"HARUHI!" Tamaki came running over the edge and dove after Haruhi.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Rose asked, angry that they had dared to hurt her friend. Rose wasn't the violent type but she had just barly escaped death at the hands of her brother earlier today. She felt like she could hold her own.

"Hey man! An even hotter chick with huge tits!" The red head said. That pissed her off. As they moved towards her she readied herself. As the red head approached her she swung her leg over her head hitting the idiot in the face and as her leg came down she rotated her hips hitting him two more times. He went down and didn't get back up.

"You stupid bitch!" The other yelled. Rose turned around swiftly and leapt into the air, kicking him in the head. He went down hard. The Hitachiin twins came storming up the rock and beat the unconscious teenagers. Rose decided it was as good of a time as ever to come down.

"You know martial arts Rose-chan!" Honey said happily.

"Was that capoeira?" Mori asked.

"Yeah." She replied. "I hope Haruhi is alright."

In the end Kyoya had the girls sent to a hotel and Rose and the Host Club were ushered back to the house.

It was quiet, they had all gone their separate ways. The Hitachiin twins to their room, Mori and fallowed Honey somewhere, and the Lawrence twins went up to Rose's room. They called their father and could hear Jack in the background complained that dinner was getting cold. There was hardly a moment when their dad wasn't with Jack. He asked about the others at the house and how he didn't like the fact that Rose was staying in a house with a 'bunch of hormonal boys', as their father put it.

"Haruhi's here dad." Rose told him, in English, as she slipped on a cardigan over her bikini top.

"Haruhi?" He asked her, "Who's that?"

"I told you about her dad." Rose sighed, her father had such a short attention span.

"Oh right, the cross-dressing girl in the host club." He said. "Well, at least they have another girl to molest." Rose rolled her eyes and watched her brother go into his bathroom.

"Daddy, considering the fact that my other half is gay I think that you have two things to worry about." Rose said as she flopped down on the bed. Her father was silent and it made her laugh.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, the actor sounded a little panicked.

"Nothing." Rose replied quickly. "We'll be back tomorrow afternoon. I'll talk to you later."

"Alright, stay safe. And you know the rules." Her father said.

"Yeah, don't drink too much, obey our host for the evening, don't destroy anything, and reply to all of your texts and calls." She repeated for him.

"That's my girl. Good night." He said.

"Night daddy." Rose hung up and sat up when her father entered the room again dressed very suave but causal in a distressed turquoise, black, and white plaid button up shirt, dark Gucci jeans that fit his waist perfectly, and black converse sneakers. He had even put product in his hair to spike it. She laughed, Zero was trying a little too hard.

"Ready to go to dinner?" Zero asked. Whenever they were Rose laughed in his face.

"As soon as you fix your ridiculous hair!" She said, ruffling his hair so it didn't look so precise and moronic. "Much better!" The American girl put on her grey cardigan and fallowed her brother out of the door.

The two of them went down to the dining room where Rose was greeted by several large bowls of seafood and the other host club members tucking into dinner. Rose felt nausea rise up in her. Zero sat down next to Hikaru and started eating.

"I think I'll just get something from town. Thanks anyways though." Rose said and turned away as bile hit the back of her throat. She went back to her room and got her purse.

The teenager denied the driver when he asked if he could driver her. She walked the streets until she reached the main part of town and wondered around the streets for an hour before she settled on a quaint noodle stand.

Mori had left after the fallout between Haruhi and Tamaki. There wasn't anything he could really do about that now so he decided to find Rose since Mitsukuni had said that he should check on her. After the incident at the beach he wasn't too sure that the town was completely safe. He knew that Rose was capable of taking care of herself with two teenage boys but he wasn't so sure how she'd fare with a man twice her size.

He didn't have to do much searching when he found Rose chatting with a cook eating noodles at a stand.

"Haha, that's true…" Rose said to the cook when Mori sat down with her. "Hey Mori-senpai! Why aren't you at the house? Think I can't protect myself?" She said with a grin. Mori shook his head. "You don't have much to say do you?" Mori smiled and nodded his head. "Oh well, you talked to me that day I scrapped my knee."

"Maybe I just like talking to you." Mori said and if it hadn't been so dark she could have seen a faint blush bloom across his face. Rose raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well aren't I a lucky girl?" She said before slurping down some noodles. "So, what does 'Mori' mean? I've been meaning to ask you that."

"Mori's just a nick-name. My name's Takashi Morinozuka. Isn't Rose a nick name?" He asked her.

"Yeah, my name's Rosabella. It's means 'Beautiful Rose' in Italian." She told him. "What does Takashi mean?"

"Praiseworthy." He told him.

"That fits." She said with a grin.

"Why did you leave?" He asked as he watched Rose take a sip of tea. She dabbed at her mouth.

"I'm very allergic to seafood and fish. I can't even eat anything that's been cooked in the same pan that was used to cook fish if it wasn't cleaned properly." Rose told him. "I'm kind of self conscious about how sick I really am, the hypoglycemia and allergies, they're both really bad. Zero got off lucky, he's only allergic to tree nuts and has bad eye sight." The brunette confessed and let out a long sigh. She set her money on the counter as she finished the last of her noodles.

"I should warn you, Tamaki and Haruhi are still fighting." He told her as they left the stand. Rose gave a short thank you to the cook.

"Ah, well, I don't want to get in the middle of it." Rose said as they walked up the street past shops when an idea struck her. "I want to shop. Whenever we would go somewhere without daddy we'd bring home something for him. He always got us little things from wherever he went, it was always nice because we knew he was thinking of us so we do it for him now. I have a huge collection of little knick-knacks and teddy bears at home because of it! Actually I started collecting teddy bears since then. Childish isn't it? Do you want to join me?" She gave him her sweetest smile, the one that could disarm any man in a heartbeat, and he caved. He shrugged and gave her a small smile in return. "Great! I want to get daddy something cool!"

"Ok." He said as the American (nee Italian/Slovenian) hooked her arm in his and started off in the direction of a shopping area that was still open.

They stopped in a little shop that sold pottery. Mori found a shelf of shi-shi dogs that came in several varieties, high glaze, glazed, and terra cotta in blues, greens, purples, orange. He picked a small indigo one up and turned to Rose who was looking at a simple brown kyusu with four matching cups and a set of black chopsticks with flecks of mother-of-pearl imbedded in them with matching rests.

"That's great! And blue is dad's favorite color!" Rose turned to the young sales woman. "We'll take these, could you wrap them up for us please?" The young woman eyed Mori in a way that made him uncomfortable and she just giggled and went to ring up the items. He decided to ignore it, he was used to it by now.

"Why the tea set?" He asked her.

"Oh, it's for Jack. He's British and, like any good Brit, he loves his tea." She told him as she paid for the items with a platinum credit card in her name.

"Thank you and have a good stay here in Okinawa!" The sales woman said. They weren't even out the door before the sales woman started gabbing to her co-worker. "Did you see that guy! He's so handsome and looks so stoic!"

"He's totally my type!" The other sales woman said with a airy giggle. Rose frowned and looked over her shoulder. She linked her arm into his again and the girls frowned. "The pretty girls always get first picks!" She complained. The schoolmates grinned as they left the shop.

Rose and Mori walked down the street, Mori watched Rose's eyes light up when she saw a temple and asked him questions about it. He waited as she took a picture of the shrine gate with her phone and thought about how most of the things he had grown up with were all new and exciting to her. She grinned and showed him the picture. He moved closer to see it, until their shoulders touch.

"That's very good." Mori commented. She smiled up at him sweetly. Neither noticed the person in the distance take their photo.

"Thanks!" She said she put the phone back into her pocket. "It's really peaceful here. We mostly grew up in L.A. and New York, there wasn't really anything like that there. Not even Central Park, there were always people there too."

Mori furrowed his brows. He couldn't imagine a place that didn't have some kind of peaceful, natural retreat like a shrine. He supposed that churches could count but he didn't know anything about Rose's religious beliefs or about Christianity in general. The older boy watched the girl take in the scenery and thought that a city like L.A. and New York would break a kind girl like her, the type that could consider the beauty of a shrine, took care of her father, and something as innocent as teddy bears. At least that's what he thought before, after seeing her take down those thugs at the beach earlier he was seeing her in a different light.

"So pretty…" She said to herself. The American turned around, her curly hair bouncing like a spring, and told him that she was ready to go. "I saw a store I want to check out. Come on." Mori fell into her orbit and fallowed her down the street to a little fabric shop. Among the bolts traditional fabric and chirimen fabric there were handmade things, pillows, cushions, stuffed animals, dog collars and leads, purses, obis, furoshiki, among other things, including several chirimen stuffed animals. She found pink cherry blossom print collar and lead set big enough for Juno. While she was looking at handkerchiefs Mori bought her a pink and blue cherry blossom print chirimen teddy bear.

"This will be a great gift for your girlfriend!" The middle aged woman behind the counter said. Mori shrugged, he was the second person to mistaken her as his girlfriend that night. He hid the bear in the bag he was already carrying for her.

"Whatcha doin?" Rose asked as she set a skein of dark multi-colored chirimen yarn, a chirimen cord and bead cell phone strap, and two cushion covers. The woman rang up the items and put them in a bag.

"Have a good evening!" She said as they left.

"Think we should go back, it's getting late." Rose said looking down at the clock on her phone. "I can smell rain coming anyways. I don't want to get caught in the middle of it." Then, as if on cue, it started to rain. "Damn." Rose groaned from behind the screen of limp, wet hair in her face. Mori grabbed her hand, their fingers entwined.

"Run for the café." He told her.

"Ok." She said softly with a quick nod. The corners of his mouth twisted up in a grin before he pulled her into the rain. They dashed across the street to take shelter under the awning. Her plastic flip-flops didn't provide much grip on the stone terrace and she slipped. In a split second, Mori caught her before she hit ground. Again, they didn't the flash of a camera from the lightning in the sky, neither knew they were being fallowed.

"Are you ok?" He asked as he helped her to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine. A little wet but fine." She told him. He watched as she unzipped her huge purse and put her latest purchases in. "I think the pottery will be ok in the rain." She said pointing to the large plastic bag he was carrying. "I should take this off too." She said looking down at her cardigan. "It's cashmere." She stuffed the sweater in with the other items and Mori was relieved when he saw that she hadn't really changed out of her swimsuit. Rose folded her arms over her tanned body in a self-conscious manner.

Mori handed her the teddy bear he had bought her with no explanation, just handed it her. The tanned girl unfolded her arms and reached for it, speechless for a moment, then grinned like a happy child.

"Is this for me?" She asked as she took it. He nodded. "Thanks! He's great!" She admired him before putting him in her bag. She wrapped her arms around herself again, a chill running through her.

"We should get back before you catch cold." He told her. She nodded and said that she would catch them a taxi. It didn't take long since she was basically half naked. Rose took his hand in hers when they huddled in the back of the cab.

"I had fun." She said, Mori squeezed her hand and smiled his reply. He realized that he had been smiling a lot more lately. It was all Rose's doing.

The two returned just in time to find Tamaki blindfolding Haruhi.

"That's it…I'm taking my sleeping pills and going to bed." Rose said, exasperated, and walked down the hall to her room. The twins looked at Mori, amused.

"Where did _you_ disappear to?" They asked in unison. Mori was silent and walked off with Honey.

)))(((

The next morning they left, the group teasing Tamaki to no end. Rose still had what she called "a pill hangover" and was asleep with her head on her brother's shoulder. Mori watched with the smallest of smiles. Zero glared at him. They were frantically protective of each other and Zero wasn't too sure what the silent upperclassman's feelings were towards his sister.

"…_la suora…ha rubato la mia bicicletta…"* _Rose whined in her sleep and earned her questioning looks from the host club. Caught off guard by it, Zero laughed.

* Italian meaning (roughly) "…the nun…stole my bicycle…" Oh the weird shit we dream of….


	4. Gossip

Hello! Wow, this is one is really long thanks to the songs and the epic footnotes! Thank you everyone that reviewed! I'm glad that you enjoyed it and I hope that more will review in the future! It's not my best work but I'm glad that you are enjoying it. I promise that it's going to get better from here on in!

Like always, anything that's actually said in a language the rest of the host club doesn't understand is in _italics _are in "quotation marks" while thoughts and lyrics are also in _italics_. The **bold** text is from fictional gossip blogs.

Also, I don't own Ouran High School Host Club, its characters, the songs used, the copyrighted material that is mentioned, and I am not affiliated with the historic people mentioned in the story.

Hope you enjoy! It's un-beta'ed so don't hold that against me!

Please R&R and thank you for reading!

Enjoy,

Arsenal Averson

EDIT: You probably got two notices because I had to reupload this because I forgot that I can't use URL's. :(

**_______________________________________________________________**

**GOSSIPGAB[dot]COM**

**ROSE LAWRENCE FINDS LOVE IN JAPAN?**

**It wasn't too long ago that the spawn of David Lawrence was said to be dating 20 year-old model-turned-actor Ty Russell. But who is this tall, handsome Japanese man that she was seen running the streets of Okinawa with? In nothing more than what looks to be her bikini top and a denim mini-skirt? **

**If you remember (and I'm sure you all do) she caused a stir earlier this year when a photo of her and Russell getting a little too "R" rated at a BAFTA after party surfaced. You remember, it looked like Lawrence was giving Russell a BJ in booth at the club. Of course, the Lawrence camp denied it. Well, you really couldn't see anything because her hair was in the way. But the look on his face gives it all away!!! **

**We at Gossip Gab wonder how Russell is taking the news? Last year Ty was talking about how he couldn't wait to get married and how great of a girlfriend Rose was, even if she was a **_**little **_**too young. **

**And who **_**is**_** this new beau? If he is her new beau at all…We won't deny it, he's really handsome, and he looks like he could lay a beat-down if someone *coughTYcough* tried anything. **

That was the idiocy the Lawrence family woke up to. In the time they had been there, which was only a little more than a month and a half, Rose hadn't had much contact with Ty. He had texted her stupidly sweet messages a few a times a day in the beginning and it trickled down to a mere "Wuzzup?" every week. The only people from L.A. and New York she had been in constant contact with since the move was her childhood friend Teagan who was part of legendary Hollywood family, Frank, her annoying agent, and Greg Sears, her acting coach. It had been Teagan who had e-mailed her the article. Ten seconds she got a text message from Ty:

WHO THE FUCK IS THAT GUY? ARE YOU SLEEPING AROUND ON ME? YOU'D BE STUPID TO BREAK UP WITH ME, I'M GOING TO BE THE BIGGEST NAME IN HOLLYWOOD!!

Then, a few moments after she didn't reply:

YOU STUPID SLUTTY BITCH! ANSWER ME!

Rose rolled her eyes and ignored his texts. It was early in the morning and she had no idea how late it was in the US. He sent her five more text messages before she got up that morning. She woke up and looked at the article again. She sighed, Jack was definitely going to have something to say about it. At the very least, he was going to ask a ton of questions on his and her father's behalf.

After eating, getting dressed, and doing her makeup and hair she had about half an hour before school. She had successfully avoided Jack until she went to get the sheet music she left in the unused faux Rococo ballroom she and Zero had (secretly) turned into a music room/art gallery. Rose was on her way back to her own room when Jack found her.

"You've read the articles?" He asked her when he stopped the girl in the hallway.

"Yes." She said, looking down at the ground.

"I told you you'd regret ever being involved with that Tyler guy." Jack had a funny way of making people feel stupid. "He was only interested in your name. What about this new boy?" Rose flinched at that, Jack had doubt about her friends since she was a child and was always trying to protect them from the people that tried to ride their coat tails for the sake of their father and for them. He had probably already ran background checks on their friends in the host club and their families too.

"Mori doesn't have any interest in acting." Rose told him, anger in her voice, and tried to move on but he stopped her again.

"Rose, I do this because I'm concerned. I don't want to see you hurt." Jack said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I know Jack, but Mori and the others are the real deal. They actually give a shit about us and don't care about our celebrity." Rose told him and went to front of the house to wait for her brother in the car.

)))(((

Classes were canceled for the culture festival and Rose had spent the day with the orchestra club. Rose had decided to come to the Host Club to visit Zero before the performance. She was surprised to see that the boys were dressed as knights.

"You're freaking kidding me, right?" She was too tired to actually laugh at them then she saw what her brother had in his hand. The electric saber with the bell guard she had just fixed and polished last week. "You asshole! I just fixed that! Give it back!" She demanded of her brother as she stomped up to him. As she got closer he pointed the saber at her and she stopped dead in her tracks, an inch from the blade. "You shithead! That doesn't have a tip guard on it!"

"It doesn't?" Zero asked and moved the blade to look at it. "Oops…"

"Whatever I'll be taking a nap until you have customers, then I'll go sleep in the car or something." Rose said as she plopped herself down onto one of the plush sofas.

She ignored the guys chatter, Hikaru was playing a video game on his DS with Zero, Kaoru was reading and staring at Kyoya out of the corner of his eye, and so on. She rolled over so she faced the back of the sofa. The American was half asleep when the doors to music room #3 flew open. She covered her head with a pillow and tried to ignore them but from the muffled voices she heard her nap wasn't interrupted by customers. Then Renge's giant motorized stage really woke her up.

Kyoya and Honey-sempai were dangerous when woken up but keeping one of the Lawrence twins from falling asleep was just as, if not more, dangerous. After a nauseating display of force that reminded her of the Third Reich's SS Rose reacted.

"Lobelia," A very temperamental Rose said very loudly as she sat up, the eyes of the devil glared at the girls. "The name of a flower, it's other names include asthma weed, pukeweed, and vomitwort." She said as she stood up. "The Native Americans used it as a laxative. Why would anyone want to go to a school named after such a thing?" Rose walked over to the group of girls. The two wingmen(women) were near fuming but the ring leader, the tall, annoying girl was calm as always.

"What's in a name, my dear? And what is this enchanting maiden's name?" She said, bending to one knee to kiss her hand, Rose took her hand back before she touched it.

"A Rose by any other name." She replied sharply.

"Two beauties captured by this swine? We will not stand for it!" The annoying one wrapped an arm around her. "We will have the paperwork drawn up to have these two-"

"Oh shove it! I'm not going to an all girl's school! I came to Ouran because it's the best school in Japan. I won't be separated from my brother. And I don't want to be involved in some club where the lead can't even sing! You may think that women are better than men but the truth is that, as a whole, they both are as petty and immature as the other! I'm fallowed by enough gossip as it is and Lobelia Academy would only make it worse!" She yelled at the woman. "And look at you! You're ridiculous! You're horrible!"

"I beg your pardon!" The girl with the perm yelled at her.

"You're all off key, your vibrato is weak and loud and just annoying," She said pointing to the shortest one. "You opened on a low note and threw off the others and I'm pretty sure that you started on the wrong note." She pointed to the tall one. "And you are tone deaf!" She told the permed one. "It's pretty but there's no emotion behind it! Singing for no reason is like driving around with your headlights on during the day. Pointless and retarded."

"She's right you know." Zero told the girls.

"And what makes you think you have the right to criticize us!" The permed one, the girl who called herself 'the Lady of the Lily', shouted at her. Rose gave a heavy laugh at the words, knowing they would bite the other girl in the ass later.

"You just see. Go see the Ouran High School orchestra's performance. I think it is right after your performance actually." Rose told her before she excused herself for her last rehearsal.

"You obviously don't know who you're messing with." The Hitachiin twins said with a grin. The Benibara chick didn't seem fazed but the other two were questioning their hasty choice of bullying the girls to join St. Lobelia Academy's roster.

"Excuse me?" Benibara asked, indignant.

"My sister was nominated for an Academy Award at the age of 9 for her role in _Nadia's Platoon_." Zero told her. "She also has a standing recording contract with the Warner Music Group record label." Mori raised an eyebrow at him. That was news to him and the rest of the host club. Silently, they planned on attending the performance. "I have to go help my sister." Zero said and excused himself.

)))(((

"Zip me up." Rose didn't really ask her brother but he did it anyways. She looked at herself in the mirror and adjusted where necessary. "How do I look?"

"It's very you and fitting for the performance." Zero said, giving her the thumbs up. It was an Anna Sui dress, white lace overlay onto of black, it was strapless with a wisps of organza that went around the neckline and to the back, and the skirt hung away from her body all the way to her knees (a shocker for the mini-dress loving teen). She tied a perfect bow around her waist with a black ribbon. She also wore a three strand black Lucite choker, black heart and bow earrings the hearts covered in rhinestones, bracelets that matched her choker, and a huge black cameo ring that was lined with rhinestones on the outer rim, and a silver flower in her softly curled hair. All of it was designed by Trina Tarantino. To top it off, she wore the perfect peep-toe black pumps made by Christian Louboutin. She looked the part, classic but a little sexy with glossy, deep red lips and dark eye makeup. "You look great sis!"

"Thanks." She said then turned around to glare at him. "Now you can go put back the saber you took." Zero sighed and left to do as he was told.

"Are you ready Rose-chan?" Sakura, the leader of the orchestra (or, as the club called her, orchestra captain), popped in to ask. It had been Sakura who had gotten her to sing in the first place after she had heard her singing an Italian opera to herself one day when she thought she was alone.

"Yeah." Rose said and went to her place where she waited for her introduction. The orchestra was playing 6 songs and Rose was singing three.

"Rose was gracious enough to lend her voice to us and she agreed to humor our fascination with opera. She even helped transcribe them to fit her rang and to give it more of a rock-and-roll feel, added the electric guitar and tweaked the score just a bit. Join me in welcoming Rose Lawrence!" Sakura introduced her. When she walked onto the stage the audience started to cheer.

The lights dimmed as the orchestra started to play the always popular _La donna e mobile _from Verdi's _Rigoletto* _and the audience sat back at waited for Rose. On a backdrop hanging above the stage the translation for the lyrics appeared on the screen.

_Women are fickle  
Like a feather in the wind,  
You can't tell what she's really saying or thinking  
Always a loveable,  
beautiful face  
That in tears or in laughter - is lying._

_Women are fickle,  
Like a feather in the wind,  
They change in tone, and in thought,  
and in thought!  
and in thought!_

_Always wretched  
Is he who trusts her,  
He who confides in her –reckless is his heart!  
Yet one never feels  
Fully happy,  
Who on that bosom, - does not taste love?_

_Women are fickle,  
Like a feather in the wind,  
They change in tone, and in thought,  
and in thought!  
and in thought!_

The crowd from Ouran cheered for their school mate's flawless performance and the girls from Lobelia Academy scoffed, angry and jealous, of the American's talent and that she wasn't persuaded to go to Lobelia. She would have made a very valuable addition to the Zuka Club with her voice.

Benibara scrutinized the woman. Rose was a worthy rival. She was a phenomenal singer, but what about acting? Benibara was the best actress that St. Lobelia had ever had. Unfortunately, the egotistic girl had no idea what family she came from. Not only was she the daughter of David Lawrence and Bianca Palladio, but she was granddaughter of Giovanna Rambaudi, an opera singer and national treasure of Italy.

In elegant script on the screen it now read "Va, Tosca" from Puccini's opera _Tosca*._ Rose executed the piece with the finesse and precision of a professional actress, as if she was singing on the legendary stage of the _La Fenice_ in her mother's native Venice and not her high school's auditorium in Tokyo.

"She's incredible!" Tamaki said in amazement. "Such a beautiful voice!"

"I'm not surprised. The Lawrence twins' come from a long line of musicians. Their grandmother Giovanna Ramdaudi, for example, was the _prima donna _of the Italian opera company. Her brother was a famous violinist as well. Their mother's family is actually quiet infamous throughout Italy and most of Europe. Their bloodline directly connects to not only recent musicians but also historic artists, architects, and composers like the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio who's work has been studied for centuries and are considered great works of art, as well as the portrait painter Giovanni Boldini, Renaissance master artist Michelangelo, and composer Giuseppe Verdi who's aria '_La donna e mobile' _Rose just sang." Kyoya told them, though it sounded more like a speech than a piece of information.

"That explains why people looked at them like they were sacred whenever we were in Milan. And why Zero is so good at painting and music." Hikaru stated.

"And they are both insanely good at everything involving the arts." Kaoru added.

"Are you serious?" Haruhi asked, a little taken aback by this new information. Yes, all of her classmates had some level of notoriety but being related to Michelangelo _and _Verdi was too far out there for her.

"Though it sounds like the background story of some unrealistic shojo manga, I assure you that it's the truth." Kyoya said and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. The Shadow King pulled a book from his pocket. "It's all written in this book. The sources are all reliable." He handed the book to Haruhi who began flipping through it.

"That's amazing. I've heard stories of the Rambaudi-Palladio family and now there's one in the host club!" Tamaki said happily.

"Isn't that neat Takashi?" Honey asked and Mori just nodded his reply.

Mori heard every word but couldn't keep his eyes off the stage. He didn't need to read the teleprompter to know what the song was about. It was about heartbreak, betrayal, and lose.

"Woah!" A familiar, accented voice came from behind them. They turned to see Zero looking over Haruhi's shoulder. "They published that in Japanese? Awesome!" The song Rose was singing ended and the host club returned their attention to the stage.

"We'd like to end our performance with something a little more contemporary and fun. I'm sure you all may recognize this next song, 'Opera number 2' by Vitas*." Rose informed the audience and bowed. The crowd murmured in curiosity and awe.

"Will she be able to do it?" Someone nearby asked their friend.

"That song sung by that Russian guy who hits that freakishly high note?" A guy asked.

On the stage Rose was smiling happily at the audience but what was going through Rose's head was one single thought; _God, this is really going to hurt._ She was technically an alto but she had trained so much that she could sing soprano and couldn't sing tenor any longer, so she had rearranged the piece for her voice rang a _little _too high. The staccato plucking of the violins started and Rose took a really deep breath. _Fuck it, I've gone too far. I'll just have to give it my all. This is either going to go really well or horribly wrong…_She thought as she began to sing.

_My house is built, but i am alone in it;  
the door got shut behind my back;  
the autumn wind is knocking on the window,  
crying again over me._

_There is thunder at night, and mist in the morning;  
the sun has got cold;  
pains from long ago go one after another,  
let them combine into one_

Rose sucked as much air as she could into her diaphragm, raised her soft-palette in the back of her throat, and stood up as straight as she could. She raised her empty hand above her and closed her eyes. Her mouth opened wider and her lips spread out farther, as if she were grinning, the higher she got as she hit that note, not once but twice, for a total of 12 seconds.

_Waaa-aaaaaaaaah!!_

_Waaa-aaaaaaaaah!!_

She had enough time to recover as the accordion played. Rose held microphone down at her side and strutted around the stage as she caught her breath again.

_My house is built, but i am alone in it;  
the door got shut behind my back;  
the autumn wind is knocking on the window,  
crying again over me._

I_t's fate, and I can't ask  
fate for anything;  
but I know how after me  
winds would start howling._

She repeated the preparations she had done before to reach that "stupid, fucking high note", as she had affectionately referred to it in rehearsals, for the second time. The audience was completely silent, which she hoped was a good sign.

_Waaa-aaaaaaaaaah!!_

_Waaa-aaaaaaaaaah!!_

Rose danced a little to the drum beat after catching her breath again. She stopped and grinned, cheekily, at the audience before straightening her dress in a showy way. She did the same thing for the third time and raised her hand as she sang higher and higher.

_Waaa-aaaaaaaaaah!!_

_Waaa-aaaaaaaaaah!!_

"_THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME!!"_ Someone screamed in English from the audience as soon as the note died off.

The auditorium erupted in screaming applause. Rose was a little shocked. She had managed to reach that note and not sound like a banshee. The song had been popular around school because the video had become viral and Sakura had been the one to request it after testing Rose's rang. She was beat and bowed a few times and smiled and waved before trotting off the stage as fast as she could in the heels.

"That was great!" The Hitachiin twins said in unison.

"Wow." Was all Haruhi could get out.

"ENCORE!" The others chanted with the rest of the audience, except for Kyoya who was just clapping. He was only slightly more enthused than what was normal for him and for a man that never showed any emotions what-so-ever (unless he had something to gain by it) that was just as good as screaming at the top of his lungs.

"ENCORE! ENCORE! ENCORE!" The audience chanted until Rose came back on state. Benibara was seething; the Zuka Club hadn't gotten an encore!

Rose turned to Sakura who was still standing at the conductor's podium and they discussed what they would do. Sakura nodded at her suggestion and turned to the band. "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen", she commanded.

"Ok, we'll do one more before we leave. Unfortunately we don't have the translation for the teleprompter because we didn't think we'd get an encore." She apologized. "Alright, this is 'Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen' from Mozart's opera _Die Zauberflöte*. _Enjoy!"

She went into "performance mode" as soon as the music started and was emoting the lyrics as best she could so the crowd could understand it without the translation. Which was easier said than done because the song was about a fit of rage when the Queen of the Night character orders her daughter to assassinate her rival, Sarastro, and threatens her with a curse if she don't complete her orders.

_Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen,  
Tod und Verzweiflung flammet um mich her!  
Fühlt nicht durch dich Sarastro Todesschmerzen,  
So bist du meine Tochter nimmermehr.  
Verstossen sei auf ewig,  
Verlassen sei auf ewig,  
Zertrümmert sei'n auf ewig  
Alle Bande der Natur  
Wenn nicht durch dich Sarastro wird erblassen!  
Hört, Rachegötter, hört der Mutter Schwur!_

"Hey, let's all go see her backstage." Zero suggested

It was a relatively short song, which was a Godsend because she really wanted a drink of water. She was glad she had gotten the Rock-n-Roll club's performance out of the way first. She bowed and waved politely and left the stage for the second and final time. When she exited she was greeted by her classmates' congratulations and complements. They had always been interested in her but she shied away from the attention. Rose had a feeling it was going to get worse after today. She pushed through the throng and found the host club waiting for her. Vaguely, she wondered when she had gained such a strange group of friends and if that was a good thing.

"That was great!" Tamaki screamed.

"Way to go!" The Hitachiin twins cheered.

"Good job." Mori said softly.

"That was awesome sis!" Zero said, giving her a big hug.

"You didn't have to scream that!" Rose yelled at him.

"That wasn't me." He protested.

"Then who was it?" She asked him, then it dawned on both of them, if it wasn't Zero it was possible that…

"DAD!!" They said at the same time. The twins smiled like little children and started for the door to search for their father but their way was blocked by a tall, blond man with short hair and glasses wearing an Armani suit.

"_Your father had to return to the set but he wanted me to tell you that he's very proud of you and you did very well."_ The man said to her with a small smile.

"_Thanks Jack!_" She said to him with a smile.

"_Your father would like to invite your friends to dinner so he meet them and celebrate your great performance."_ Jack told her.

"_Ok._" She nodded and gave him a hug. "_Give daddy a hug for me."_ He laughed at it.

"_Sure, I have to go. Your father will get into trouble if I leave him alone for too long." _The British man said in a low voice so only she could hear. "_See you at home. Goodbye Zero."_

_"Later Jack."_ Zero waved to the man before he left.

"Wasn't that your dad's assistant?" Hikaru asked Zero. "Isn't his name Jack?"

"Yeah, that was him. Said that dad was here but had to jet." Zero told him.

"Dad would like to meet you all. So he's inviting you all to dinner tonight if you're free." Rose said uncharacteristically down-hearted. "Our chef cooks French and Italian, so, just saying."

The group of friends made their way back to music room #3, there was something about Tamaki's plan to get Haruhi to stay so Rose snuck off to the library, Haruhi wasn't far behind her.

"Thanks for inviting me for dinner but…" Haruhi started to say but Rose stopped her.

"No, you really should come. You can just stay for dinner, that's all. I really hope you can make it." Rose to her with her brightest smile on her face.

"I'll come…" Haruhi didn't put up much of a fight. Rose figured she was probably glad to have a female friend, just like she was.

The girls made it to the library and found what they were looking for and went their separate ways, Rose went home and Haruhi went back to the club.

Later, when Zero got home, he told her about how Tamaki had forced everyone but Mori into dressing in dragged in order to keep Haruhi from transferring to St. Lobelia's Academy.

"I hope you took pictures." Rose said as she tuned her guitar in the music room.

"Kyoya wouldn't let me. It's too bad, he looks adorable in a dress." Zero said in all seriousness. Rose laughed at the thought of that man as anything close to adorable.

"I wonder when Tamaki is going to stop with this whole 'family' fantasy of his." Rose said, turning the conversation around.

"Probably when he realizes that he's in love with Haruhi." Zero sighed, "Everyone's in love with Haruhi…Tamaki, Kyoya, Kaoru, Hikaru." Zero said the last word very bitterly. Rose was shocked.

"You mean you really don't know?" Rose said wide-eyed. Zero's brow furrowed and he shook his head at his sister. "Hikaru's totally in love with you. You're blind as a bat, he's had a crush on you since we were like…10." Zero's jaw hit the floor and he dropped his drumsticks which made a sad little _thunk_ as they hit the snare.

"What?" Zero looked stupidly frantic at this information, he grinned then it faded. "I don't think it would work…he's so close to Kaoru…"

"Oh I wouldn't worry about Kaoru." Rose said with a wink.

"What?"

"You're such a dumbass sometimes."

))))((((

**HOTMESS[dot]COM**

**Has golden child Rose Lawrence gotten a new BF???!!! This weekend the spawn of Hollywood King David Lawrence was seen wondering around Okinawa with tall, dark, and handsome…guy. No one really knows who he is. But he is hawt!!! A lot hawter than Ty R****x****ussell and a lot closer to her age!!! A 16 yr. old dating a 20 yr old? Creepy!! Not to mention the fact that Russell was talking about marriage after two months of dating!! Do you think he **_**might**_** just be interested in the family business? We say, at least until we find out something juicy about this new boy, stick with him!!!**

**EDIT: Thanks to an e-mail we've discovered the new guy is her upperclassman at her super-posh school Ouran Academy. His name is Mori and if he goes to that school it's needless to say that he isn't interested in self-promotion and her name!! **

**Hawt AND rich! If only everyone was so lucky…**

))))((((

"Juno! Uh-oh, Juno, you killed me because you're ignoring me…" Rose laid face down on the floor of the sitting room area of her bedroom suit. The 3-year-old Siberian husky whined and crawled forward towards the teenager. "I died Juno. It's all your fault." She said and her dog whined again. Juno nudged her head to try and lick her face. When she couldn't she whined harder and licked at the arm that was wrapped around her head to shield her face. "Uh-oh Juno." The dog pawed at her arm until the girl rolled over. Juno wagged her tail furiously and licked at her face, happy that she hadn't 'killed' her owner. "You're a silly dog." She said as she wrapped her arms around her. Rose whipped the slobber from her face and looked at the clock on the dresser. "They should be here in an hour and a half. I hope dad doesn't act like an idiot." The dog huffed. "Yeah, you're right. Dad always acts stupid when he invites our friends over. What a bummer."

Downstairs the doorbell rang, Jack was there to answer it since nobody else would bother with it.

"Good evening. Won't you please come in?" Jack greeted the Hitachiin twins as Mori walked up the front drive. "I'm Jack Nelson, David's assistant and manager."

"We're the Hitachiin twins." They said shaking the man's hand. "This is Mori-senpai." The twins said, pointing to the other boy.

"It's a pleasure, the twins talk about you quiet often." Jack said as he led the boys inside the mansion. "You're the first ones to arrive. Zero is in his art studio and I believe Rose is in her room." He informed them. "The art studio is on the second floor in the east wing next to the library and Rose's room is on the second floor at the very end of the west wing. You're welcome to wait with either of them. I'm sorry I can't stay and visit but I'm in the middle of some very important business I must attend to."

They thanked him and went their separate ways. Mori went off to the west wing and the Hitachiin twins found Zero's studio. The older boy was standing at a strange work table. There was an easel in the middle of two small drawers with sliding table tops that opened up to reveal more storage space. All of it was connected. On the table tops were tubes of watercolor paints, brush cleaner, books, and his cell phone. There was paint everywhere, even on the floor and ceiling. Pictures of Venice and period clothing were taped to the wall in front of him. Stacked against the wall and in a drying rack were other paintings of every size and some empty canvases. The twins were impressed by the quality of the pieces they could see. The detail was amazing and the colors were phenomenal.

"Hey Zero." Hikaru said but the other boys didn't say anything, he just placed a brush in a water container and picked up a different one.

"What the heck?" Kaoru was a little irritated that he didn't reply. Hikaru watched the American paint a dark shade of blue into the shadow of a building. He caught a flash of something white around his neck as he reached for something on the table top.

"I think he has headphones on." Hikaru pointed out. He moved towards the older boy until he could reach out and touch him. He could see the muscles under his t-shirt ripple as he moved his hand around the painting. Hikaru placed his hand on his shoulder and the other boy jumped. The American pulled the earphones out as he spun around.

"Hey! You made it!" Zero said, putting down his brush and whipping his hands on a rag. "I'm glad you both decided to come."

"What are you painting?" Hikaru asked as he looked over his shoulder. It was a picture of a young woman holding an umbrella in the rain of a flooded St. Mark's square in Venice at night time. _Wow, he's really talented…_Hikaru thought, a smile spread on his lips.

"Uh…Uh…" Zero was stuttering, it wasn't like the confident American at all. "It's my sister. In Venice." Hikaru leaned over Zero's shoulder, his body almost pressed against his, so he could see it better. Zero started to sweat.

"Wow, you're really talented Zero!" Hikaru said leaning in even closer until his face was right up next to his. Zero jumped out of his seat, blushing a little, and rubbed the back of his.

"Oh, I'm not great or anything. Hey, why don't we wait in the living room?" Zero said moving for the door as fast as he could.

))))((((

Mori knocked on the last door in the west wing.

"Come in!" A voice came from inside. He opened the door and found Rose sitting ram-rod straight on an overstuffed lavender colored sofa texting on her phone. She typed fast on her phone and stopped. She looked up and smiled when she saw him standing there. "Hi Mori-senpai…" He could see that she had been crying. Her eyeliner and mascara was running and her eyes were red. Mori came up to her, frowning as he whipped the running makeup from her face.

"What's wrong?" He asked. Rose's eyes widen, she must not have realized she had been crying. She looked down at her cell phone and back up to him.

"It's this guy I was with for about a month and the gossip blogs…I told you didn't I?" He nodded, he had seen the stories and the paparazzi had been camped outside her house. Strict rules and the general design of the school were the only reasons they weren't at Ouran too.

"Is he bothering you?" Mori asked her, concerned that his friend was being harassed by some worthless model.

"He's in New York, I blocked his number already. This will all go away as soon as the tabloids and gossip blogs get a new story." She told him as she sat down on the overstuffed purple sofa. She smiled and patted the cushion next to her. "So, what do you think about the stories?" She asked, not looking him in the eyes.

"It doesn't bother me." Mori told her. Rose nodded. "I don't mind them thinking we're together." Rose turned to him, surprised.

"You…you don't?" She asked him, she hadn't expected that. Didn't people hate being in the tabloids?

"No, I don't mind. Do you?" He asked with furrowed brows. She thought about it, she didn't mind the part about assuming that they were together. What she did mind was the fact that she had been in the tabloids in the first place and that it had been implied that she was a bit of a slut.

"Just the part where they imply I'm a slut." She told him. Mori smiled at her, making her blush. "I just get aggravated when they put my friends in their articles."

"I don't mind." He repeated, Mori shifted closer to her. "I think it's—"

"Hello Rose!" Tamaki said as he entered her room fallowed by Kyoya. Mori sighed and leaned back into the sofa.

"Thank you for inviting us." Kyoya said catching the angry look on Mori's face. He didn't have to say anything, he knew.

"No problem! " She said, "Like I said, dad really wanted to meet you all. He's been really busy with filming and other business."

"Oh? What other business does your father do?" Kyoya asked, genuinely interested.

"He owns a production company, R&Z Productions." She informed him. Her phone beeped and she picked it up to read the text message. "Is Honey-senpai coming?" She asked Mori who shook his head. "Let's go wait down stairs. The twins are with Zero and Haruhi just arrived."

The group went down into the living room where they met up with the Hitachiin twins, Haruhi, and Zero. Haruhi was looking at the photo and paintings on the wall. It seemed like they were mostly of Rose and Zero, separate or together, or the twins and their father. There wasn't a single one of their mother. Some pictures of other people who seemed to be relatives, some were old black and white others new.

"Where was this one taken?" Haruhi asked Rose. It was a picture of a little girl with short, straight hair with a teddy bear in her hands being held by a man in uniform, they were surrounded by other uniformed men. They were all smiling and the little girl looked like she was having a blast.

"Oh, that was on the set of _Nadia's Platoon_, on the last day of shooting. I'm the little girl, I was like 8 when that movie was made. It was a World War II drama, have you seen it?" She told her.

"I don't think so." She replied. Rose went to the wall where there were DVD's and books were packed into the bookshelf. She picked out a case and handed it to her.

"That's a regionless DVD, it should play in any DVD player. I think it has Japanese subtitles, I don't remember." She handed the DVD to the other girl. Haruhi looked at it and sure enough, on the cover it read Rose's name in English.

"Thanks." Haruhi said and put it in her bag.

The doors opened to the room and a handsome man with dirty blond hair, around 6 feet tall, and muscular walked through the door. Everybody turned to look at the grinning man.

"Hello everybody, it's great that you all could make it!" He said to everybody as if it were the highlight of his year, strange for a man of his caliber.

"Hi daddy!" Rose yelled in excitement and hugged her father along with Zero.

"Hello my beautiful Rose! You're performance was wonderful today! Your grandmother would have loved it! I'm proud of you!" He said and she smiled up at him like a satisfied child. "Zero, how was your day?"

"It was good then these crazy girls from St. Lobelia tried to take Haruhi and Rose to their school and Tamaki made everyone but Mori-senpai dress in drag." He told him, the others blushed as the actor let out a loud, barking laugh.

"How fun! Sounds like your friends aren't afraid to get their hands dirty, so to speak." He was still smiling like he wouldn't stop any time soon. "These must be your friends from the host club! Aren't you going to introduce us?" He prompted his son. When Zero was done with the introduction their father shook their hands. "It's great to finally meet you all! I'm so glad that my children have made such great friends!"

"David, dinner is ready." Jack said, poking his head in the doorway. The group merrily went into the dining room where they were served their first course.

"I just have to say that I'm a _huge_ fan of yours Mr. Lawrence!" Tamaki said out of the blue, making one of the Hitachiins laugh.

"Why thank you!" David said with a smile.

"I loved _Versailles _and _The Mad Monk*!_" Tamaki swooned over the actor. David and his kids knew that the space cadet was a fan of his before meeting him and that it wasn't this that led to Zero joining the host club so David was kind to the young man.

"Have you seen any of the twins' acting?" He asked excited. Rose and Zero groaned. Every time someone talked about his previous work he would act like the proud parent he was and brag about his kids.

"Rose _and_ Zero both have acted?" Haruhi asked.

"Yes! Both of them!" David said happily. "Zero got his first role when he was 7 in the movie _Tomorrow's Moon_ which I was in too but Zero did so well on his own without help from his dad! He was in _Lost Souls _when he was 15. That was a good one! I don't generally like vampire movies since being in _The Vampire Lestat_ but _Lost Souls_ was really great. _Stary Nights_ was another great one, he was 10 when he was in that.

You've probably seen Rose's brilliant, Oscar nominated work in _Nadia's Platoon_ but she's been in a few other things like _Extermination _which comes out next month I think. Isn't that right Jack?" David turned his assistant who was sitting next to him. The British man nodded with a fork full of risotto in his mouth. "She did a really great job considering how hard it is to work in a movie with so much special effects in it. You just have to see it, I don't want to give it away. She was wonderful in –"

"Dad, shut up, I'll just give them the DVD's." Rose interrupted her father's annoying ramblings. It was embarrassing to have her father gush like that sometimes.

"I'm just really proud of you two! You're both great actors and musicians!" David beamed at his daughter as the main course was served. "I think it's fun to brag about your kids!"

"I think it's annoying." Rose and Zero said in unison.

"I know why don't we—"

"No dad!" The American twins said in unison again.

"You're no fun…"

"You talk too much…"

"David, just give it up." Jack said placing a hand on his knee under the table. He took a drink and looked around the table. "So, if I remember correctly, we're missing one person."

"Yes, my cousin couldn't make it. He's practicing for a competition that's coming up." Mori told him.

"Oh right, you and your cousin--Honey wasn't it? – come from families with a long tradition of martial arts, it's that right?" David asked him, turning from the doting father to the curious parent. Mori nodded. "That's interesting. I think it's fascinating that things like that remain in the family. Perhaps it's genetics. You probably know of my…_wife's_…" David said the word as if it were poison. "family background and the twin's talents. But then again, I come from a long line of soldiers and none of my siblings are in the military."

"That's probably because most of your family members were sent to concentration camps as POW's during the war or were sent to the Gulag for defecting from the Soviet army and the stories scare the shit out of everyone." Zero said.

"True." David said thoughtfully, as if he remembered the stories right then.

"Speaking of your wife, is she not here?" Tamaki asked innocently. The room went quiet, David scowled and the twins looked at each other. "Did I saw something wrong?"

"Our mother is a demon harpy sent from the farthest reassess of hell to piss us off and be an all around bitch of titanic proportion." Rose said angrily. "When are you going to get a divorce?" She asked turning to her father.

"Whenever your mother decides to sign the papers." David told her.

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have—" Tamaki trailed off.

"Don't worry about it Tamaki." David waved his hand dismissing the conversation. "So, why did you decide to start a host club?"

After that conversations drifted between the main course and the cheese course. Jack and Kyoya talked stocks and managing the host club. Jack gave him a few good tips and Kyoya's view of the Lawrence family changed. David and Tamaki talked about the host club and David told him a couple of amusing stories. The Hitachiin twins were talking with Zero about god knows what, the entire time Zero was shying away from Hikaru much to his dismay. Haruhi and Rose talked about how American and Japanese education differed and their plans after high school while Mori listened.

As they were tucking into their desserts the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it. Excuse me." Jack said and excused himself.

"Who would come to the house without being invited or calling?" Rose wondered outloud.

"It must be important." The Hitachiin twins said in unison.

"You do that too? I thought that Rose and Zero were the only ones and that they were just trying to freak me out!" David was amused, "Maybe it's a twin thing. But then again, Vladislav and Katarina never did." He trailed off.

"_David, come here."_ Jack said, in English, from the doorway.

"Who are Vladislav and Katarina?" Haruhi whispered to Rose.

"My dad's brother and sister, they were twins too. Fraternal twins have run in my father's family ever generation. Sometimes there are two sets in each generation but the other set are always identical." She told her. "Come to think of it, none of my cousins have had twins yet." Rose thought about it for a moment before her father and Jack came back in. The teenagers all turned to the grownups in anticipation, judging by the look on their faces it was serious. _This better not involve our mother._ Rose thought, a bitter taste spread over her tongue that she washed away with the wine. Jack and her father only looked like that when something happened that would eventually lead to contacting a team of lawyers.

"That was a messenger. You've been subpoenaed for the child molestation trial against Kyle Clinton." Jack told them holding out the official document. Rose and Zero shared a look of concern while the others were merely curious as to why they would be summoned for an international, multi-platinum record musician's trial that was taking place in the United States for the last three weeks. "You're leaving tomorrow morning."

"Now wait a minute!" Zero shouted, standing up to him. "Why would we want to help send our friend to jail!"

"You were summoned by the defense." Jack told him with a glare that sent the teenage back into his seat. "It's a crime to ignore a subpoena signed by a district attorney no matter where you are. I had a feeling this would happen and I'm sure they wouldn't summon you unless you were crucial for the defense's case."

"Fine." Zero said folding his arms over his chest. Rose was silent.

"They also specified that they want Rose's journal from when she was 8-years-old, the fourth of July home video from when you were both 10, and Rose's pediatric medical record if your father will authorize it." Jack told them, looking over at David, who was leaning against the door-jam. He nodded his cooperation. "Kyoya, Tamaki…It would be helpful if you could get the twin's homework assignments for the time they're gone. It shouldn't take more than 5 days and they'll leave tomorrow morning."

"You can count on me! I won't let you down Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Nelson!" Tamaki said with a salute to them.

"It shouldn't be a problem. I have their e-mail addresses already." Kyoya said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose then wrote something in one of his many notebooks.

"Thank you." David said to them. "I'm awfully sorry to cut the night short but the kids need to pack and we need to make arrangements." He looked like he was upset then he made a complete 180 and was as cheerful as the moment they first met him. "It was wonderful to meet you all! We'll have to make arrangements to meet again! I look forward to meeting your cousin too, Mori, he sounds like a wonderful young man." Mori nodded as they all stood up to leave. Zero had a brief moment of dread that he wouldn't be at the host club for the week and away from his friends. Hikaru frowned at Zero who just shrugged as if to say 'sorry, but what can we do?' and apologize to him.

"It was great to meet you!" The Hitachiin twins said, shaking David's hand again.

"It was a pleasure." Kyoya added, shaking David's then Jack's hand. They nearly mirrored each other, Jack was Kyoya in nearly 30 years, completely down to the glasses. Rose couldn't help but suppress a grin at the sentiment. She wondered if Kyoya would come to care for someone like Jack had over the years. She had idea who that someone would be too.

"I'm so happy to have met you Mr. Lawrence! I'm a big fan!" Tamaki said in his usual flamboyant and dramatic way.

"This may not be the right time but—" Haruhi began but Rose cut her off.

"Oh, right! I was supposed to help you with your English class!" Rose remembered and caught her dad's stunned look at her outburst of energy. "Well, I volunteer my dad to take my place!" She said, flashing a peace sign as she wrapped an arm around her father's shoulders.

"I don't know…Your dad must be really busy being David Lawrence and all." Haruhi said skeptically.

"Yeah, well, he's still going to help you." Rose narrowed her eyes at him. "Right daddy?"

"Sure."

"Don't worry Haruhi, you're in good hands. Our dad got his degree in linguistics from Harvard!"

"Uh, thanks Mr. Lawrence! I appreciate it!" Haruhi had a huge smile on her face and shook his hand.

"Just call the house line and Jack will set it up." Rose told her as she left the room.

"What? Haruhi and…!!!" Tamaki shrieked from the entryway and was off in the corner in a second.

"Thank you for dinner." Mori said as he left and the American twins fallowed them to say goodbye at the door.

"We'll miss you!" Hikaru said to Zero, looking genuinely sad to say goodbye.

"Stay safe." Mori told Rose, she felt like hugging him all of the sudden then a cry came from Tamaki's corner that was so loud Jack and David turned away from their conversation to see if the boy was alright.

"Don't worry Tamaki!" Zero said, slapping the other boy on the back then leaned down to whisper something to him. The blonde's eyes widened and he whorled around to face him.

"SERIOUSLY?!" He asked/yelled in shock. Zero laughed at the host club king's reaction. The other boy looked at David and Jack in complete shock. The others were curious but didn't bother asking Zero out of fear because it looked like a few screws in Tamaki's brain had gone loose thanks to whatever Zero had told him.

"I'll e-mail you as soon as we land in L.A." Rose told Mori before the group left. Hikaru and Kaoru were teasing Tamaki as they walked up the drive to their separate cars waiting for them. They all gave one final wave before they left, the four members of the Lawrence household stood on the stoop waving goodbye.

"There's something you're not telling us, isn't there?" Rose said as she watched Mori disappear into the darkness and the others drove off.

"A security guard claims to have seen Kyle molest both of you several times." Their dad told her.

"Shit." They said together. Rose slipped her hand in her brother's. A breeze blew past them and for a moment it was completely silent.

* * *

Author's Footnotes:

Sorry, author's footnotes are epic. ;_;

The first two songs("La Donna E Mobile" and "Va Toche") and the last ("The Queen of the Night") were based off of the music/re-scoring of the original operas made and done by _The East Village Opera Company. _The second to last one "Opera #2" is something that was sent to me in a viral video type of case. You've probably seen it anyways. Couldn't find the translation for "Va, Toche" in the libretto so I BS'ed it. You can all of the songs on YouTube minus "The Queen of the Night".

All the movies mentioned are fictional but some are based on historic events and people or public domain books, (i.e. everyone, _the public_, owns these books so there's no copyright infringement.), or currently printed books I don't own the rights to.

_Versailles:_ Versailles is about, obviously, the palace of Versailles outside of Paris and the French Revolution. In my mind I see David Lawrence playing the role of a spy for Robespierre (leader of the anti-aristocracy movement and the Revolution) in Versailles.

_The Mad Monk:_ A fictional movie about the Orthodox monk Gregory Rasputin who was a close "friend" of the last Romanovs, Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandria (particularly Alexandria) who was said to have spiritual powers that healed their hemophilic son and (doomed) heir to the throne, Tsarivich Alexis. He was also said to be a prophet and a pervert.

_Tomorrow's Moon:_ Is a futuristic thriller I made up. You may or may not find out what it's about. XD

_Lost Souls:_ Is a book by the brilliant Poppy Z. Brite. It's the only vampire book I've actually enjoyed. Look it up. Zero plays the role of the character Nothing. ( I don't own the rights to any part of this novel.)

_The Vampire Lestat: _I'm sure most of you are aware of the _Vampire Chronicles_ by Anne Rice. David plays the role of Lestat which was the role Tom Cruise played. ( I don't own the rights to any part of this novel.)

_Stary Nights: _Movie based on the life of artist Vincent Van Gogh. Zero plays the role of a young Van Gogh.

_Extermination:_ An apocalypse thriller in the mode of alien invasion. Think _War of the Worlds_.


	5. Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran High School Host Club, it's characters, or anything dealing with the manga and anime. Any resemblance to real life people is merely a coincidence.

Read the other author's notes for explanation on the _italics_, "quotations", and **bold** type used in the story.

Author's Note: Hello everybody! Thank you all for the kind reviews, story faves, and alerts you've given so far! I'm so happy to see that people are enjoying Celluloid Life! Thank you!!

This chapter is more choppy than the others, it shifts scenes quickly back-and-forth and I'm sorry about that but I didn't want to make this any longer than it already was. In order to make it smoother I would have had to add a lot of stuff that just didn't add anything to the story. But hopefully I made up for that with all the romantic fluff in this chapter!!

Read and Enjoy! Please review and let me know what you think!

Thank you all!

Arsenal Averson

************************************************************************************

Hikaru, Mori, and the other host club members had come to see the twins off. The Lawrence twins looked half asleep, both had sunglasses on and no one was absolutely sure they were even awake. Rose was wearing a long black hoodie and grey leggings. She carried a large purse and peaking over the edge was a grey teddy bear. Both were frowning and slouching with their arms crossed over their chests.

"Wow, you look really tired." Hikaru said to the frowning American teenager. Zero looked like hell, the hood of his zip up sweatshirt was pulled up over his head, his eyes were covered in Tom Ford aviator glasses and the bill of a Red Sox cap.

"We stayed up most of the night." Zero told him. "There was so much shit to do. Apparently our names were mentioned in court the other day and the only way to clear this hurdle in the trial was to get us over there. We didn't have a choice." _And what timing, after finding out that we might have a chance because you like me too. _ He thought to himself.

"So, how long will it take?" Hikaru asked, not knowing what to say but he had to say something before he left. He felt like there was something he was missing.

"Well, it's about 11 hours in flight. I have no idea what the time conversion is. Court should take about three days and then another 11 hours." Zero said. "So that's about four days?"

"Oh." Hikaru said lightly. _Four days, that seems so long. I won't see him every day._ He felt his heart sink. "I'm going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too." Zero scratched the back of his head and looked down at the ground. "Look, when I get back there's something I want to talk to you about." Hikaru's heart pounded against his rib painfully.

"O-ok, sure." He said weakly.

Rose and Mori were standing to the side. Honey, Tamaki and Haruhi were petting Juno and Zero's spastic German Shepherd Rambo. Kyoya was watching them, standing next to Kaoru who was watching his brother and Zero.

"This shouldn't take too long. We're seeing the lawyers, testifying, and getting out of there." She told him. "So, what were you going to tell me last night before Tamaki and Kyoya interrupted us?" She felt her heart beat jump, this time she was sure it wasn't tachycardia, when he smiled at her.

"I was going to say 'I think it's not a bad idea.'" He told her. Rose, who had been staring at the ground, snapped her head up to look at him.

"What's not a bad idea?" Rose asked him. Jack came out of the house with a butler carrying the suitcases.

"It's time to go. Say goodbye." Jack told them. Rose's eyes widened.

"What's not a bad idea?" She repeated but Mori waved goodbye with a happy smile on his face and went to leave. "HEY! What's not a bad idea?!" She screamed but Mori and the others just left. Hikaru turned to look at Zero as he left, the sad expression on his face made his heart clench. _I can't do it now, when we get back I will._ He thought. "GET BACK HERE!!" Rose screamed at the retreating group.

"What was that about?" Their father asked as he exited the house holding two large to-go cups of coffee. "You two finally figure your shit out or what?" The twins turned around and stared at him in horror.

"SHUT UP OLD MAN!!" They screamed and jumped into the waiting car as their father laughed at them.

))))((((

"I wonder what the others are doing today…" Rose said as she continued to knit with the forest colored bulky weight wool yarn.

"I think that they are outside today. We also had a lecture in chemistry class that we missed. Supposedly it was really important." Zero said as he drew in his sketchbook. She looked at the picture, it was an elaborate, filigree framed kanji, it read 'Will you be my boyfriend?'. Rose had a good idea who it was for. It was just a basic line drawing in pencil right now but she was sure it would end up as an inked masterpiece, like anything her brother made.

"You're really going to confess to Hikaru?" Rose asked. She worried about him. Hikaru and Kaoru were close and it would break Zero's heart if he drove them apart. If Hikaru was miserable without Kaoru then Zero would undoubtedly be miserable and that would affect her too. It was a strange cycle and common for twins. What affected one would affect the other. There were times in their childhood when she would be half the world away and would become inexplicable angry. Later she would always find out that it was because one thing or other, usually another child teasing him or their mother. They spent a lot of time separated from each other even though they would get terrible separation anxiety. While filming _Nadia's Platoon_, the first time they had been separated from each other for longer than a week, she would cry and beg for her brother because she was worried that something would happen if she wasn't around. Eventually her co-star Gage Browning, an old friend of her father's and Zero's God father, gave her a white teddy bear and told her that when she missed her brother she should hold it tight and think of him.

"I think so." Zero said softly, "We're always moving. Who knows how long we'll be in Tokyo? I've known him since we were 5, I've had a crush on him for years and now I know that he likes me too. We're finally living in the same area so I want to have as much time with him as possible. I've wasted so much time! I'm an idiot!" Zero wailed and slumped back on to the sofa, throwing his sketchbook onto the coffee table.

"Would you stay in Tokyo if it got serious?" Rose asked him. Zero looked up at the ceiling of the plane and felt his heart clench. He was torn, if he had to choose between being with Hikaru and being at Rose's side he would always choose Rose. The thought of living in a completely different city, much less a different continent than his sister, terrified him. But he wasn't sure he could give up love for her.

"I don't know. If you're here than that's a completely different story, I would stay. Would you stay?" He asked her. Rose did nothing but blink at him.

"I would. I like Tokyo. It's a very nice place and it's the only place we've made so many friends. What do we have in LA? Or New York? Or Paris? We have friends in Tokyo, real friends that really care about us. Sure, we have Gage and Kyle but they're dad's age. That's completely different." Rose told him, Zero took it all in. Who would have thought that moving to Tokyo would mean making it a new home? They had houses around the world but didn't really call anything 'home', the closest thing to a home they really had was the family estate in Venice where their grandfather lived. "We have enough money that neither of us will ever have to work again in our lives. If we really do have to work we can deal with it. If either of us inherits the Palladio business we can compromise. In all likelihood it will go to uncle Giorgio. I don't know why he announced that we could inherent it."

"He still wants us to study architecture in Europe." Zero confirmed. They didn't object to being architects but they didn't have that kind of talent, their talents lay elsewhere. "Anyways, I have a lot to think about." Rose nodded and turned back to her knitting.

A few hours into the flight Rose had finished her knitting and ate her lunch so she decided to crash on the bed while Zero continued to draw. When she woke up they were descending into LAX where they would be met by their chaperon, Gage Browning, who was a fellow actor and a close friend of their father's. They would also, undoubtedly, be greeted by the paparazzi too. She had enough time to put on some makeup before they were told to put on their seatbelts.

When they exited the plane and got passed security they saw Gage standing there with a grin on his face. He walked forward when he saw them and gave them each a hug.

"How are my Godson and my favorite little Rose doing?" He asked them as a dozen paps' cameras clicked and flashed at them. "I guess you must be at least a little jet lagged. Let's get going, the lawyers want to meet with you guys right away. Let's get going." The twins each took a deep breath and headed for the front door, which was crowded with paparazzi. They moved forward and the questions started.

"Who was the boy you were photographed with?"

"None of your business."

"Is it true that Kyle Clinton molested you?"

"We can't say until the trial is over."

"How's Tokyo?"

"Amazing." They said in unison. Gage glared at the cameramen and told them to leave them alone.

"That's enough. Stop hounding my godson and his sister." Gage warned them and they were to the car where their luggage was waiting. They pulled away from the curb and made a b-line to the offices of Simpson, Bugliosi & Matsch* attorneys at law.

))))((((

**GOSSIPGAB[DOT]COM**

**The case is heating up! Added to the lineup are Rose and Zero Lawrence who are infamous friends of Kyle Clinton. Kyle Clinton is a friend of Bianca and David Lawrence and the Godfather of Rose. It's known that while David and Bianca were away the twins would be babysat by either Kyle or Gage Browning, Zero's Godfather. A security guard has apparently come forward and accused Clinton of molesting both twins while they were staying at his ranch during one summer while they were younger. The guard claims to having seen Clinton touching and fondling Rose while she was in the bath and kissing her while she played the piano. He also claims to have seen Clinton taking off Zero's clothes. **

**Now it's plain to see why the twins were summoned all the way from Tokyo. But, seriously, couldn't they have just done it over the phone or webcam or something? **

))))((((

Twitter[dot]com::

RealRoseLawrence: Ugg…spent hours at the attorneys' office going over the case and the charges Kyle is facing. I need a bath and a soda. I MISS OURAN!! (T.T)

RealRoseLawrence: GOD DAMN TRAFFIC!!! I HATE LA!! Why does Gage have Katy Perry in his CD player??? O.o???

RealZeroLawrence: RealRoseLawrence, You need to lighten up. I know you hate LA but it's for Kyle!! I miss Ouran too!!!

RealRoseLawrence: RealZeroLawrence…Zero…I'm sitting next to you in a fucking car. You're a lazy bastard aren't you?? I know it's for Kyle, I would fly across 1/2way across the world for a court appearance for a very short list of ppl.

DevilTwinHikaru: RealZeroLawrence I thought you were going to call when you got to LA?? (;_;) You make me cry!!! Rose-senpai called Mori-senpai and Kyoya-senpai!!!

RealZeroLawrence: DevilTwinHikaru… (O_O) OMG!!! I'm so sorry!!! I forgot!! orn…GOMEN NASAI! GOMEN NASAI!!!!! Forgive me!!

DevilTwinHikaru: RealZeroLawrence…..(-_-) sigh…I guess I can forgive you as long as you call me.

RealZeroLawrence: DevilTwinHikaru YAY!!!!

))))((((

Since the moment the Lawrence twins touched down at LAX the Host Club watched them on TV or the internet. They were all curious as to what had happened and how they would act when they took the witness stand. The day before they had gotten off the plane and went straight to the attorney's office and spent hours there going over the questions they would face in court (at least that's what Zero's e-mail and Rose's Twitter had said), when they left the twins looked exhausted. Then they went to Gage Browning's house, where they would stay until they left. They were fallowed by the paparazzi the entire time, even when they went out to dinner at a vegetarian restaurant and went shopping the next day while they were free. A gossip blog had a long list of what they had bought. It was crazy, it had everything down to the color of NARS lip stain gloss (Daredevil, scarlet red) to the brand and type of leave-in conditioners (Ojon restorative hair treatment and Frederic Fekkai Overnight Hair Repair) Rose bought at Sephora. It made the Host Club glad they didn't face the kind of fame the Lawrence twins did. Kyoya wondered why they never complained about the attention when he knew that they hated it. It was bizarre, he had surfed the gossip blogs sense Zero joined the Host Club and today he had never seen so many people complain about a teenage boy wearing a hoodie and hat around town. People were guess as to why he was wearing it.

But today was the first day of their testimony and the Host Club and clients were watching videos on the gossip blogs and American news sites.

"_The Lawrence twins have made it_!" A reporter said, the camera turned to show Rose pulling up to the court house in a grey BMW. Hikaru dropped his drink when he saw Zero get out of the car. He looked absolutely gorgeous. Zero had died his hair a dark blond and was wearing a black suit with a white shirt and blue striped tie with matching pocket square. The suit was incredibly well made and accentuated Zero's lean frame very well. His hair was still in its shaggy, emo cut and the aviator sunglasses gave him a roughish look.

_God he looks so hot!_ Hikaru burned the image into his brain for latter. He wasn't sure about the blond but it was still really hot either way.

"Woah, look at how long Rose's hair is when it's straight!" One of Zero's clients pointed out. Rose was stepping out of the BMW, her auburn hair was straight and pulled back into a simple ponytail with hair hanging down around her face. Her makeup was impeccable, long black lashes, purple smoky eye shadow, rosy blush, and glossy scarlet lips. She was wearing a black, draped pencil skirt that reached her knees, black Christian Louboutin ankle boots, and an incredibly well tailored white Thomas Pink blouse. On her right ring finger was a large rose ring made of white gold and diamonds and draped around her neck was a long white gold and diamond Van Cleef & Arpels necklace with matching earrings. She looked like she was at a modeling job instead of walking into court. Mori stared at her, she was a beautiful woman. She put her black Dior sunglasses back on as she eyed the cameras and shouldered her Chanel bag as she fallowed her brother to the front of the courthouse. For a moment it felt like her eyes were looking right into his soul.

"Wow, they don't look like they're 17-years-old at all!" One girl said in amazement. The Hosts agreed.

"They really look like Hollywood actors don't they?" Another girl asked, the others agreed with her. "I always knew that they were but…I guess I just didn't really understand it. Looking at them now, it's hard not to."

"_It's been awhile Zero." _A reporter had caught Zero and he was smiling at her, she seemed to stumble over her words for a moment. Hikaru felt like a hand was squeezing his heart when he saw that smile. He felt like slapping the woman who was acting like she was Zero's BFF, if he could reach through the TV he would have. How could a stranger smile back at him like that?! _Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God…Stay the hell away from my Zero!! _He screamed in his mind. 

"_I suppose so."_ Zero said with a laugh.

"_You're looking very handsome! That's a nice suit by the way_." The reporter said.

"_Oh, thanks, it's by Yuzuha Hitachiin design."_ He told her. Behind him Rose had her hands on her hips, glaring at him.

"Don't talk to the reporters you moron!!" She told him in Japanese before pulling him away from the camera.

"That was anticlimactic…" Renge said in disappointment. The picture cut to Rose and Zero walking through the metal detector, Zero put his watch, wallet, keys, and cell phone in a tray. Rose watched while the guard went through her bag.

))))((((

The first few hours in court were boring. Zero was doodling on his iPhone and Rose was e-mailing Mori as the defense and prosecution cross examined the security guard, a few sick kids Kyle had once helped, and a maid.

"The defense calls Rose Lawrence to the stand." The attorney said to the judge. Rose sighed and stood up from her seat. Her heels clicked against the tile floor drawing more attention to her. She sat down in the witness stand and was sworn in.

"Please tell the court your entire name." The lawyer for the defense asked her.

"Rosabella Zoyenka Palladio-Potočnik is my legal name, for all other purposes my name is Rosabella Zoyenka Lawrence." She explained reluctantly.

"You are a member of the Palladio family from Italy are you not?" He asked.

"Yes I am." She said.

"And what does the Palladio family do for a living?"

"Well, several generations ago my ancestor was a very well known architect and there were several artists, that's how the name Palladio became so recognizable. The family company, now, is an umbrella company that has control over several luxury and fashion brands based in Italy and Europe, like Versace, Ferrari, Cartier, and Prada as well as the architecture company, Palladio Internazionale, which has several offices throughout the world. I also have family involved in the arts and politics of Italy and the European Union. The company is owned and ran by my grandfather." She told the judge and jury.

"How much money is your grandfather worth?"

"Around €12 billion currently." The people who had gathered in the court room were chattering busily.

"Order!" The judge yelled at them.

"How much money will you inherit from him if he passed?"

"About 15% of that plus stock in the company, a villa in Italy, a vineyard in France, and god knows what other material possessions I'll inherit. That is, if he decides to hand down one of the companies down to myself and Zero." She told him. A few people in the courtroom wrote that down in their reporter's notebooks. Rose could see the laminated Press passes from where she was sitting. She felt like this was exhibition rather than a trial.

"Your father is the actor David Lawrence, how much money does he make?"

"Around $350 million is what it accumulates to."

"Has the prosecution ever asked you about the money in your family?"

"Yes."

"Can you explain?"

"Kyle was babysitting us while our, Zero and myself I mean, parents were away and those two and their mom were there too. I was about 10 years old. The prosecutor's mother was asking question about how much my father made a year, how much money he had in the bank and which banks. She also pushed her sons to play with us and become our friend. She would keep other children from playing with us and whenever we were by ourselves she would tell her kids to get our attention. The mother would ask when my parents got home and if they could play with us at our home because, and this is how she put it, 'they liked us so much' even though it was obvious they didn't like us at all and we didn't like them." Rose told the court. "Later on she told my father and his assistant, Jack Nelson, that her children and we were, as she said, 'closer than two peas in a pod!'. Dad and Jack knew something was wrong because we didn't get along with other kids, we didn't even get along with most of our own cousins when we were children. There were a select few like Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin and Teagan Faulkner who we did get along with. We didn't get along with those two. Their mother tried to kiss our dad's ass but he wasn't having it. He knew that they were planning to use us so he cut off contact with them. They tried to call our house and Jack had their number blocked, they tried to come to our house and security was told to escort them away no matter what."

"Has Kyle Clinton ever touched you?"

"Yes."

"Was it ever inappropriate?"

"No."

"Do you remember the incident in question? Remember we're on the topic of the charges brought forth by Sonia Smart, the maid. This would have been when you were eight."

"Yes, he had to bathe me. I had chased after a rabbit and fallowed it into the woods behind his house. I ran straight into a bush covered in poison ivy."

"Your honor, we'd like to present exhibit 8. The medical record made that bay, including photographs of the rash." The attorney's paralegal put the scanned documents and pictures up on a screen from her laptop. A picture of an 8-year-old Rose in nothing but a pair of pink panties was on the screen. If Rose had cared she would have felt embarrassed. "You can clearly see that the rash covers most of her body, including her back, arms, and legs. Rose, what did the doctor tell you to do to medicate the rash?"

"The doctor told Kyle he would have to bathe me because it was on my back."

"How did it get on your back?"

"I used to wear my swimsuit all the time in the summer when I was a kid. I would jump in and out of the pool all the time. In the picture, you can that the rash is surrounded by clear skin, that's because the back of the swimsuit had a circular cutout in the back." Rose side-tracked then went on to answer the original question. "Kyle would have to rub this gross smelling lotion on my back and wash it to clean away the toxic that caused the rash. If I had to describe it I would say it was like a father taking care of their child." Kyle smiled up at her from the defense table. "I believe a maid walked in on that in order to bring me a towel."

"No more questions your honor." With that the lawyer allowed her to get off the stand and the news station went to a commercial.

)))))))))))))((((((((((

**HOTMESS[dot]COM**

**If there's one thing the entertainment business knows how to do it's publicity. Rose and Zero Lawrence are all over the gossip blogs right now because of the Kyle Clinton Molestation case and, to Blue Moon Records, it's the perfect time to debut the "Hollywood Victim" music video by Lady CoCo! You all know that Lady Starlight is taking the pop music scene by storm and Rose recorded a duet with our new pop diva on Lady CoCo's debut albums. The music video was filmed sometime before Rose moved to Tokyo. We have to admit it, after watching it, Rose is a little Diva!! The girl has a future in the music industry! But we had no doubts about that considering her mamma is the Queen Diva herself! The only thing though, it's a little too sexy for a 17 year old but it's not like she has a contract with Disney or anything! Come to think of it, she's never actually made a movie for a demographic under the age of 20…At least she looks classy and sexy unlike some of our fave hotmesses!! Seriously, they can take a page from her book, out of all the times she's been in the hot stories or it's just her pic splashed across the page she's never looked trashy!! **

**Enjoy the music video guys! And remember, she's still 17 so lay off it!!**

"Have you seen the music video?" A girl asked her friends. A group of Zero's clients had showed up to the Host Club even if their host was absents. The media frenzy excited them and Kyoya was still milking it for all it was worth.

"Rose is so gorgeous in it! I'm jealous!" A girl with brown bob-cut hair said. "and it's not like I can hate her for it too because she's really nice! She's even helped with my French homework."

Mori grinned at her words. Rose really was a sweet heart. The girl hadn't lied when she said Rose was gorgeous. Mori had seen the music video. He watched it over and over again, he couldn't get the image of Rose wearing a long-sleeved black dress with a neckline that dipped all the way down to her stomach and a slit up the front of it, stopping just below the top of her thighs and a few inches above the top of her black thigh high boots. She was perfect mix of talent, character, intelligence, kindness, and looks. Mori was sure that if Kyoya had any interest in anybody but Kaoru he would be fighting him for her. He had decided that he would fight for her, against anyone.

))))((((

**GOSSIPGAB[dot]COM**

**As if the week hasn't been enough for the Lawrence twins they were spotted dinning with director Tom Donaghey and another man that seems to be Rose's agent. We confirmed that the dinner was a meeting for the film that the two were rumored to be involved with since last summer. **_**The Damned**_**, a survivalist zombie movie based on an idea by renowned horror writer Killian Kiernan, is scheduled to start shooting in late July. So far the pre-production has gone forward without casting key characters, the Cushing siblings. The final piece seems to have fallen into place. Rose and Zero have been confirmed for the rolls of emo/goth, self-named teenage siblings Ghost and Wynter Cushing. It was rumored that the rolls had been written with the twins in mind but due to the impending move to Tokyo, Japan the offer for the parts hadn't been given to them. **

**They join confirmed cast members William Pope, Greg Pullman, Lily Pulaski, Simon Loanoke, Vilonia Greenbrier, and new comer Madeline Irby (among others). This makes it a surprisingly A-list cast for a zombie flick and makes us curious as to how this film will do in the box-office. **

**Has a zombie movie ever been nominated for an Oscar? **

))))((((

The day had been long, Zero had just spent an hour describing the way Kyle interacted with them while they had stayed with him when they children. That Kyle taking off his clothes in the laundry room of the house as benign as Kyle giving him a glass of water after spending the day outside and he was beginning to feel dehydrated. He had been forced to describe how he had removed his clothes and Zero got impatient, yelling that he had 'ruined his God damn clothes playing in the mud' so when he came inside Kyle was upset that he hadn't been careful, took him to the laundry, scolded him, and washed his clothes before he got mud all of the house. He also told the jury about he had heard from the kids and their parents when they thought Zero and Rose were too stupid to understand.

Rose had to translate about thirty pages of her journal from Italian to English. It detailed what had happened when Kyle was teaching her to play the piano and it had been mistaken for something inappropriate. It also detailed what the boys (and their families) who were accusing Kyle of molesting them acted and said around Rose and Zero. It backed up what Zero and others had testified to. It turned the case around and the media was talking about the prosecution possibly being charged for slander and pressing false charges. The Lawrence twins would be leaving within the next day anyways.

"So we have about two hours of homework to do and dinner. What do you want to do? I was thinking about hitting Barnes and Noble for some supplementary materials for school." Zero said when Gage asked what their plans were.

"That's a good idea, navigating the kanji in our history book is a headache. We could—" Rose was cut short from finishing her sentence by a loud BANG coming from the other side of the parking lot. Rose and Zero ducked behind a car with Gage a split second behind them. The second BANG rang out and there were screams, including the three of them, from all over the courthouse property. Rose was crouched down over her knees, her hands covering her ears. Her heart felt like it was about to explode! She had heard gunshots before but, of course, those had been blanks. She knew for damn sure that these were not blanks being shot at her. The third gunshot came and the window above her broke so forcefully shards of glass were lodged in their flesh. Before he could fire another shot the gunman was taken down by the police. It was over as fast as it started.

"Are you ok?" Zero asked, helping her up and dusted them off. Rose looked up at Zero and her eyes went wide.

"You're bleeding." Rose pointed at his face, near his eye. There was a steady stream of blood spreading out across that half of his face and dripping down onto his jacket where a large, dark spot bloomed on the fabric. "Jesus, Zero…that's bleeding pretty bad. You can't feel that?" Rose asked. Zero put a hand to his face, there were cameras and reporters pushing each other to get a good shot of them, when Zero pulled his hand away it was covered in blood.

"Holy shit." Zero looked down at his hand and caught sight of Gage sitting on the ground, a hands clutching his head. "Gage, you ok?" He asked, kneeling down to inspect his Godfather. He frowned when he saw the wet, red tinge in his hair and smudges around his hairline. He pulled Gage's hands away and saw a large gash on the top of his head. "Oh my God! Gage, you need to see the paramedic." He and Rose tried to move him but when he got to his feet he claimed he felt sick and wanted to sit down. Rose bent down to look at him in the eyes and her back erupted in pain.

"Is everyone ok over here?" A young black man in a paramedic uniform came over to ask. He saw Zero and Gage and he didn't need a reply to know that his assistance was needed. He told Zero to sit down on the curb. Another paramedic came over to assist them. They talked between each other and after awhile they agreed that it would be best to send Gage to a hospital.

"Where are you taking him?" Rose asked as some other men loaded Gage onto a gurney and wheeled him away, "Are you taking my brother too?"

"He's being sent to Cedars-Siani and there's no need to send your brother. We can stitch that up here without a problem." He told her with a smile. "Don't worry kid, he's in good hands."

"Oh, ok." She turned to sit down next to Zero when the paramedic, whose nametag read King, stopped her.

"You have a big piece of glass in your back. Don't move." Rose froze as King looked at it. "Hey, Jim!" He yelled to another paramedic. "I need a hand over here!"

They talked a moment and King went back to stitching up Zero's head. She felt Jim's hands hold the fabric of her shirt taunt.

"Let's go over to the ambulance." Jim told her and she followed him feeling ridiculous for moving around with a big piece of glass in her back. She could feel it now and it really hurt like hell. Jim told her to sit on the edge of the vehicle as he climbed in. She could hear him opening a drawer, looking for something. "I'm going to have to cut your shirt off, is that ok?"

"Sure." She told him.

"You prick! You hurt my baby Goddaughter!" Kyle screamed. Rose ventured to look over and saw her Godfather screaming at the man they had in custody, the prosecuting party. Rose groaned.

"What a moron. They weren't going to charge him with anything. If he had just waited he would have seen that. Even if he had been charge with slander or pressing false charges he might have gotten off with fines and probation. Now he's definitely going to prison." Rose said to no one in particular as Jim cut the $400 shirt off her back.

"People do stupid things when they don't think it through." Jim replied.

"That's sad." Rose honestly. She felt her shirt fall away and she held her arms over her chest to keep her bra off the network news. They would definitely be running this footage continuously for days.

"This is going to hurt." He warned her. With a near lethal amount of swearing and screaming later she was stitched up with nothing stronger than extra strength Tylenol. Jim had been nice enough to give her the top to a fresh pair of scrubs in a cabinet in the back. She made a mental note to send their boss a very kind letter about King and Jim along with a check.

"Are you alright darling?" Kyle hugged her gingerly, very aware of her stitched up back, he was crying. "I was so scared! You're such a smart, quick girl!"

"I'm fine, well it hurts, but nothing more than something that just pisses me off." She told him. "Can we get out of here? It's getting crowded." She pointed over her shoulder at the throng of cameras and reporters and curious bystanders, it had multiplied in no time at all.

))))((((

_Nothing I say comes out right/ I can't love without a fight/ no one ever knows my name/ when I pray for sun it rains/_

"Uhg…David, answer the phone." Jack told the actor sleepily. David held him tighter, burying his face in the younger man's chest.

_I'm so sick of wasting time/ nothings movin' in my mind/ inspiration can't be found/ I get back up but I fall down/_

"Don't wanna…" David whined. Jack sighed, unable to move because the other had him held captive.

_I'm alive!/ I'm alive!/oh yeah/ between the good and bad/ that's where you'll find me/reaching for heaven/ I will fight/ and I'll sleep when I die/ I live my life/ I'm alive_

"David, that's the kid's ringtone." David was up in a second and grabbed the phone off the charger. Jack reached over to his bedside table to get his glasses and turn on the lights. He turned back to the other man, his brows were knitted and he was frowning.

"WHAT?! Are you sure you're ok? You didn't have to go to the hospital did you? What about your sister? Is she ok?" David asked. Jack turned around at the world 'hospital'. It must be Zero on the phone, something must have happened. "Well, as long as you're alright. I'll tell your school you'll be home the day after tomorrow. Good night Zero, I love you." David pressed the end button and set the phone back on the charger.

"What was that about?" The British man asked.

"The kid that filed the lawsuit figured out that he was screwed and wasn't going to get the money and that he was possibly going to go to jail for lying so he took a gun to the courthouse and opened fire. The trial was dropped and he was arrested. The kids and Gage hid behind a car and the gunman shot the window out, Zero's face got scratched and Rose got a piece of glass in her back." David told him and lay back down in bed. "Our kids are like magnets of misfortune." Jack whipped his head around to look at the man.

"_Our_ kids?" Jack asked surprised. David pulled the younger man into bed and kissed his neck.

"Yes, _our_ kids." David told him softly. "They think of you as a parent. You replaced their mother over a decade ago." Jack smiled, the idea of being a father, even a beloved step-father, was something that took him by surprise. It was something he had given up on. David had given him everything he ever wanted, a family, an invigorating job, and love.

"It's not that hard to replace Bianca." Jack pointed out and turned off the light. David kissed his neck making his assistant squirm. "David, go to sleep! You have to be on set at 6 am you moron!"

))))((((

_-_**ROSE AND ZERO LAWRENCE AMONG THE INJURED, GUNMAN IN CUSTODY.**

Hikaru reread the headline again. _That can't be! Zero is hurt? What happened? Is he ok?_ Hikaru felt sick, Kaoru was beginning to worry by the time they reached school.

"Did you hear what happen to the Lawrence twins?" A first-year girl asked her nearby friend. It was just before class and the halls were packed with whispers about the Americans.

"I heard that the guy that was accusing Kyle Clinton of sexual assault was the gunman!" Someone said.

"I heard that they had to send Zero-senpai to the hospital." Hikaru choked up and his chest hurt, it felt like he was about to have a heart attack. He caught Mori-senpai in the corner of his eye. He looked up and saw that the older boy looked just as heart sick as he did. _Mori-senpai and Rose?_ It was a mere flash of awareness before his thoughts went back to Zero.

"What's happened?" Mori's deep voice penetrated his thoughts.

"Something about a gunman at the courthouse, Rose and Zero were injured. Zero had to be taken to the hospital!" Hikaru said frantically. Mori's eyebrows knitted.

"I hope they're ok." Honey added in.

"We should find Kyoya. He'd know." Hikaru said. Mori nodded and they went off to find the Shadow King. They found him the library on his laptop.

"Are they alright?" Kyoya repeated the question pushing his glasses up his nose. "They should be considering that they will be returning to Tokyo today."

"Really?" Hikaru sighed with relief.

"Yes, in a few hours or so according to Jack Nelson." Kyoya told them. "I wouldn't worry about them. They just got a few cuts from glass."

"What happened?" Honey asked the younger boy.

"Apparently the prosecuting party was afraid that they would go to jail for pressing false chargers and panicked." Kyoya told them. "When the gunman opened fire they ducked behind their chaperon's car and the windows were shot out at close range."

"Are you sure they're ok?" Hikaru asked.

"I'm positive." He told them as the first bell rang. "Excuse me." Kyoya left them to soak in the information.

The day went by slowly for Mori and Hikaru. Neither could concentrate and they prayed for the day to end. Hikaru watched the clock, counting down the hours until Zero's plane touched down. Mori checked his messages every half hour, his mind wondered during class and he felt so hopeless not knowing how Rose was.

))))((((

Zero walked down the eerily quiet hallways of Ouran by himself. After a meeting with their homeroom teacher the twins had separated, Zero was waiting while Rose went to see the fencing team captain, pick up the foil* she had loaned someone, and then to the orchestras club room to pick up sheet music. It was so strange walking the empty hallways in his street clothes. He couldn't remember a time he didn't have to wear a uniform to school and it just felt odd to be wondering around the hallowed halls in blue jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers. Not to mention that he had been reduced to wearing his glasses. His eyes, face, and head in general hurt after the run-in with the crazed gunman and putting in contacts hurt too much for him to even bother with them. He hated wearing them. Zero always thought he looked like a nerd when he wore them, it didn't matter that they were Versace, designer or not he hated how he looked in the black rimmed, rectangular frames. He seriously hoped that Hikaru wouldn't see him. He thought that wouldn't be a problem though, the Host Club's activities would have ended about half an hour ago.

Zero's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of wooden sandals clicking against the floor. He looked up to see his sister walking towards him, her stride was long and her free, hand swinging at her side making the metal bangles on her wrist rattle. She had her arms full with the script they had been given the other day, the libretto to Bizet's _Carmen,_ the sheet music for "The Hall of the Mountain King", a stack of disks, and a slender, long bag hung from shoulder that ,undoubtedly, housed her foil. Rose was frowning and, even under the tinted lenses of her sunglasses, he could see the anger in her eyes.

"They signed me up for the exhibition next week! They didn't even ask me! I'm not prepared for this shit! They gave me DVD's of the competition I'm facing but that doesn't help for shit! I have a report to finish for Japanese history, two tests in math and chemistry –My worse subjects!—along with a lab I have to make up, I have to relearn "Toreador" from _Carmen,_ learn "The Hall of the Mountain King" –which heavily emphasizes the _fucking cello!_—memorize an entire script, and by the way…my character is apparently a fucking track star so I have start running everyday and she's a smoker! What the fuck? And CoCo just texted me telling me that she's playing in Tokyo 11 days from now and wants me to perform with her! That's the day before the premiere of _Extinction_ and I was just informed that I have to show up for _that_ too! I fucking hate this shit!!" She screamed in English, Zero was glad there was no one around. "Why couldn't you have been my identical twin sister? I could have black-mailed you into switching places with me. Do you have any idea how much shit I could get done?"

"Sorry I was born with a penis and ruined your plans for box-office domination." Zero said, earning a slap on the arm.

"Shut up fuck-head!" She warned him as they neared music room #3. "Why do you have to be such a dick? Why can't you give me a fucking hand? Who did all of your homework when you filmed _Lost Souls_ and _Mississippi Queen_ back to back? I did!"

"Fine, I'll do your damn homework." Zero told her as they passed the door to music room #3. He felt uneasy and fell behind his sister watching the long skirt of the blue and purple tropical print maxi dress swish as she walked. She was moving fast and he couldn't understand how she could be awake enough to even move. He sure as hell wasn't.

"Zero?" A very familiar voice called from behind him. He spun around and saw a very worried—or was it relieved?—Hikaru staring at him, wide eyed. "Oh my God, Zero!" The younger boy ran to him, Zero stumbled a little when he threw his arms around him. "We heard about what happened. I was so worried. Why didn't you call! What took you so long?! You were supposed to be back by noon!" The boy became angry with him and hit him, weakly, in the chest. "You should have called!" The American frowned at the other boy. He hadn't meant to make him worry.

"I did call you! Your phone was off! And we wouldn't have been so late if we didn't have to stop in Honolulu to refuel! Then Rose decided she wanted to go shopping!" Zero told him as a tear dripped down Hikaru's cheek. He whipped it away, smiling sweetly at him. "I didn't mean to make you worry. I'm sorry Hikaru." Zero wrapped his arms around his friend and kissed the top of his head. "I'm sorry."

Rose had back-tracked when she noticed her brother's absence and was standing with her back to the door when a pair of arms wrapped around her. She jumped, dropping her things onto the floor.

"Thank God you're alright." She heard Mori whisper in her ear. Rose turned around and her heart clenched when she saw Mori's face. He looked like all his stress had been washed away.

"I'm fine." She reassured him. "I'm just a little sore." Mori knitted his eyebrows, not believing it completely. "Seriously, I was freaked out but now I just slightly agitated by the whole ordeal more than anything else." Rose told him as she bent to pick her things up. Mori helped her, gathering the disks and papers as she piled things back into her purse. He studied at the bound manuscript in his hands, not really knowing what it was. Rose took it from him and went back to her purse when she saw the questioning look he was giving her. "It's a script. Zero and I are going to be filming through summer break."

"You won't be here?" Hikaru asked a guilty looking Zero. He glared at his sister.

"Yeah, we'll be in Hollywood the whole time." Zero said. Hikaru frowned and pulled away from him, his hands on his hips. He took a step back to stand next to his brother and the other hosts.

"You all are more than welcome to join us!" Rose said cheerfully to them all as she stood up. "It would be really great if you all did!" _I really hate LA. Please, please say yes! You're my only hope for sanity!_ She thought.

"I don't know." Kyoya replied and Kaoru agreed with him.

"I always wondered what goes into making a movie." Haruhi said.

"I think it's a great idea! It will be a great opportunity for some family bonding!" Tamaki practically yelled as he wrapped an arm around Haruhi's shoulders.

"Fine." Kyoya agreed much to the dismay of Kaoru. "One problem, Haruhi doesn't have a passport."

"Come on, it's not like a passport is some mystical talisman that only the rich and affluent can have! It would take 2 months, tops." Zero argued. _He doesn't want to be stuck with those fake, Hollywood assholes as much as I do. _Rose thought with a grin. "Can't you get a passport application at the post office or something?"

"True…." Kyoya conceded.

"Great! Then we're spending the summer in Hollywood!" Zero said happily when his cell phone beeped. It was a text from their father demanding that they return home. "Uh…that was dad, he wants us back home. I guess we'll see you all tomorrow!" He hugged Hikaru one last time, slipping a folded piece of paper into his back pocket.

With one last look over the shoulder they waved and left for home.

))))((((

After dinner Rose decided to take Juno for a walk to get away from her father who was fussing over them thanks to the 'brush with death' as he put it and the excitement around the new movie they were going to begin preparing for that week. Jack had been on a conference call with Tom and the production team most of the day. They worked out the pre-production requirements for the twins. Rose would have to start running every day until she run 100 yards in 20 seconds, which would be harder than it seemed. Zero would have learn to drive a motorcycle, a Kawasaki Ninja preferably, and not only that but be able to drive while Rose rode with her back to his. Rose would have to get acclimated to wielding a machete. And Zero would have to learn how to skateboard and use a welding torch. They would have to meet the wardrobe and make-up people, Tom, their 11-year-old co-star Madeline Irby, and the director of photography. That meant that they would have to be spending a considerable amount of time with them in order to make the trip to Japan worthwhile for the studio and also to get as much done in a little amount of time. They only had 2-months before the beginning of production. It was going to be a huge headache but it would be worth it in the end. The buzz around Hollywood was that it was Oscar worthy, as if a zombie movie could win an Oscar! It was a good script, it wasn't like anything she'd seen but it was going to be a lot of hard work to get done. She had to organize her thoughts and clear her head and walking Juno was great for that.

Well, maybe taking Juno for a walk was a thinly disguise attempt to see Mori. And she managed to pass his house while he was outside. He stopped what he was doing and walked over to her when she stopped outside the gate.

"Hey, sorry we had to bail so suddenly today." She apologized. They stood in awkward silence for a moment. _What the hell should I say?_ She thought it over, how did one go about asking someone out? It wasn't like middle school where you could just walk up to a boy and say 'will you out with me?'. Wasn't it? _Damn, I don't think I've ever actually done this before. I'm the one always being asked out! Can I just say 'can I be your girlfriend'? Or is that stupid? Yes, that sounds stupid. _

"Um…Rose, are you free on Sunday?" Mori drew her out of her thoughts. It took her moment to compute what he was saying.

"Sunday?" She thought about it. _When's the fencing expo? No, that's on Friday._ "Yeah, I'm free. Why do you ask?"

"Would you like to go on a date?" He asked. _Oh God, that sounded really dumb…_He thought, mentally kicking himself for it. But Rose smiled and nodded her head.

"Yeah that would great!" Rose said, she had to resist doing a victory dance in the middle of the street in front of him.

"Good." Mori gave her a rare, smile that was nothing less than pure joy. "I'll pick you up after lunch."

"Ok! I can't wait!" Rose couldn't stop grinning. "See you tomorrow Mori-senpai!" _YES!!! _She felt like screaming it but restrained herself.

))))((((

Hikaru had left his wallet in his pants again and was currently digging them out of the pile of clothes on his floor. When he dug into the back pocket he felt a piece of paper that he was sure he hadn't put there.

"What the heck?" Curious, Hikaru unfolded the piece of paper and read it. He read it again. He smiled like an idiot and felt something bloom deep in his heart, something that had been closed for a very long time. In the middle of beautiful, scrolling filigree it read, in perfectly written script, it read 'Hikaru, will you be my boyfriend? – Zero'. Hikaru ran to grab his phone and dialed Zero's cell.

"Hello?" He answered, Hikaru's heart leapt when he heard his voice.

"Yes, Zero! My answer's yes!"

Footnotes:

Can you guess who Kyle Clinton, Lady CoCo, and Gage Browning are based off of?? :D Gage Browning might be hard to guess because this chapter was originally going to be longer with more of him in it so he's a really static character.

Names in the attorney's offices:

Simpson, Larry: Former Assistant District Attorney of Dade County (Miami). Simpson is known for being the lawyer that prosecuted the Ted Bundy Chi Omega murders case in Miami, FL which resulted in a conviction and Bundy's execution.

Bugliosi, Vincent: Former Los Angeles county Assistant District Attorney and prosecuted the Manson case (Charles Manson and the other 'family' members as well). Won 21 out of 21 murder cases he took to trial.

Matsch, Richard P.: U.S. District Judge that ruled over the case of terrorist Timothy McVeigh (US v. McVeigh), the man responsible for the bombing of Alfred P. Murray building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. Nominated by President Nixon to the position of federal judge on the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.

Killian Kiernan: Interesting side note, Killian Kiernan is an original character from a larger set of stories and (unfinished) novel center around the family, mostly his only daughter, Alice.

Foil: A foil is a type of sword used in western fencing.


	6. Class

Author's note: Ok. So, I started writing this around the beginning of Sept. (yeah, sorry about the wait) and somehow, while I was polishing off a six-pack and watching TV on Sept. 11th the first scene crept out of my fingers and onto the screen. It's based off the story my aunt told me though, about what she saw when she was getting out of there.

Also, I'm really sorry it took so long but I'm a college student and I have so much crap to do. The last two months consisted of one week that had tests scheduled for every class, several papers, a lot of reading (mostly in Historical Geology and Victimology), a prison tour for my Corrections class, a field trip for geology, and seeing a few plays for theater. Yeah, I've been busy. Oh, and all of this on top of working too and having ADHD. T_T

I don't really know if I like this chapter. It's not my best but I do hope you like it! I figured that publishing it as is will get me going on the next few chapters. This chapter is like a link in the chain I guess you can say.

Please read and review!

Thank you everyone who reviewed, added it to their favorites, and added it to their story alert! It makes me so happy to get them! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

~Arsenal Averson

(Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran High School Host Club, it's characters, or anything dealing with the manga and anime. Any resemblance to real life people is merely a coincidence.)

**EDIT, THE ENDING IS RE-WRITTEN!**

EmeraldSky67: Don't worry about Kaoru! ;) Also, celluloid is what film was printed on. I don't know if it's still used now that everything is digital. I thought it fit since the Lawrence family is full of actors.

SOME ONE YA DONT KNOW: HAHA Thank you! Chapter 7 is on the way!

justiceintheworldofhp-yearight: Thank you!

Kris_77: lol I almost thought about it but I'm back. No worries. I had a plot bunny that I had to write. You don't like Rose/Kyoya pairing? :( Kyoya is more interesting and easier to write for.

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"_Nonno. _What's happening?" 9-year-old Rose Lawrence asked her grandfather as she looked out the window on the 52nd floor.

"I don't know _Mio Bella,_ I'll go see, stay with your uncle." Silvio Palladio yelled over the fire alarm then left the room with the man they had been in a meeting with.

"_Mio Bella_. Get away from the window!" Her uncle told her but she didn't listen. She just watched as smoke came out from the floors above her, watched as concrete and metal plummeted pass her window. Paper fluttered by like snow.

"But look at all the smoke!" She said, grabbing her uncle Giorgio by the hand and pulled him to the window. "Look!"

"I am on the phone with emergency operator, _Mio Bella_, I don't-" Her uncle's attention was drawn away by a voice on the other line. "Yes, I am still…No! The building is on fire!" Rose just turned away, she couldn't stop staring out of the window. Now there was more falling past the window and smoke was seeping into the office. Once, then again, she saw something sickeningly familiar fall past the window, it was the shape of a man, and for one heartbeat she could swear she looked him in the eyes.

"Giorgio! The ceiling is collapsing we have to get out of here! The heat is going to compromise the steel-" Her grandfather was interrupted by Rose's long, hysterical screaming sob. Silvio and Giorgio Palladio came running to her, thinking she was hurt.

"What is it? _Mio Bella_, what happened?" Silvio asked her, when she didn't stop screaming he pulled her into his arms. She couldn't stop crying and screaming. "Giorgio, we have to get out of here!"

"The fire department is on their way." The man whose name was on the door of the posh office told them in a manner that was meant to reassure them but it didn't help at all.

"Mr. Snyder, we're leaving." Giorgio told him and picked up Rose before fleeing, the hallway was black and it was hard to breath from the smoke and the crowd of people evacuating the towers. Little Rosabella Lawrence could a cracking, moaning sound that was loud enough to hear over the crowd of people. The roof started to crack and fall on top of them. The building was crashing around them, everyone was screaming and running…She couldn't breath.

Rose woke up, trying to catch her breath. She felt sick and made her way to her bathroom. A chill gripped her, she tried to force herself to throw up, to make herself feel better, but she couldn't. Rose thought about the dream, it was more of a memory actually. It had taken years for her to live with them. The memory of the people jumping out of the windows, the smell of the building and the residence burning, the taste of ash in her mouth, the thoughts that she was going to die and Zero was going to be alone, the people they couldn't help, the weight of steel and mortar and all of the dead.

After she finally was able to throw up she wondered downstairs and outside to the poolside "igloo" lounges, two giant white wicker loungers in half spherical shapes that looked like, of course, half an igloo. She laid down knowing that she wouldn't be able to fall asleep again anyways and waited for dawn in nothing but a lacy tank top and boy short panties.

She looked up at the near dawn sky and felt like crying. It had been so long since she thought about that day, either intentionally or unintentionally, and it had been even longer since it scared her like that. Memories could be vivid and dreams could be very vague but she had never felt anything like that. It was like she was there again and that hurt a lot. She closed her eyes against the tears but she saw a giant cloud of ash and heard people screaming. She screamed herself, floods of memories came flooding back; her father screaming for her. Grown-ups, the people who had their shit together and didn't cry, not at all…at least that was what the 9-year-old version of her thought, were crying harder than she was. Her uncle had put her down and went to help a disabled lady and in the rush of people she got separated from her grandfather and her uncle Giorgio. That terrified her. She couldn't just stay and wait, if she had she would have been crushed! She couldn't run, she didn't know what to do without her family! She was sure she was going to die, alone and afraid, right there in the street. She was suffocating and the throng of people was getting thicker, people were screaming as the tower came down in a deafening roar. She knew she was going to die. Then the strangest thought came to her mind. "I'm going to die without my brother. He won't even know I'm dead." She walked into an ally and started to cry, loud, angry sobs. Just giving up. Someone was nearby, screaming about how badly they were in pain, screaming for help in absolute agony. High, shrill wailing that cracked and ebbed over and over and grated on her nerves. "Shut up!" She thought, "Let me die in peace!" It didn't stop, and Rose screamed it as loud as she could like a mantra. It multiplied, it was everywhere.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! _**SHUT UP!" **_Rose screamed, kneeling in front of the lounger, her hands covered her ears in a desperation to muffle the screaming memory. She was breathing heavily, her eyes red, her face wet.

"Hey baby-girl, what're you crying for?" A familiar voice said from behind. She turned around, startled, to look up into her uncle Greg's eye. He had come from New York City at their father's request to reform their security. He had become paranoid since the incident in front of the court house. Greg's absence was always overlooked by his superior officers at the NYPD thanks to all of the money David had donated over the years.

"I'm not crying…" She pouted at him.

"Was it a bad dream?" He asked her. She didn't answer. "I think that maybe that what happened at the courthouse had a bigger effect on you than you're telling us."

"Maybe." She said, looking down at the ground. "What are you doing up so early anyways?"

"My sleep cycle is off thanks to jet lag." He told her, sitting down next to her. "You know, we've made sure that that will never happen to you again. You've been trained by the best and you're smart Rosie. You'd get out." She looked up at him, confused.

"What are you talking about?" She asked him. He was thinking of something else. Then she realized what it was. "Um…I'm not thinking about that! God, I'm pretty much over being kidnapped. Think worse."

"Oh. Ohhhh!" Greg realized what it was she was remembering. "I was there too. If you want to talk about it I'm all ears. Ok?"

"Yeah, I know. Thanks." She smiled sadly at him. "Be honest Uncle Gee, you're not here just because dad's paranoid, right?" He grinned at her, it told her that he wasn't going to say anything because either her father or Jack (or, more likely, both) had sworn him to secrecy. "Wonderful." She sighed and rested her chin on her hands. A thought entered her head as her uncle Greg walked away. "Or maybe it's because uncle Giorgio is going to be arriving soon." She grinned at his shocked expression.

"Shut up and go get ready for school." Greg told his niece, swatting her on the back.

"Ow." She yelped at him. "I'm already sore. Thanks for that." Rose stuck her tongue out at him.

"Go get ready for school." He told her before leaving.

After eating her special made hypoglycemic breakfast, going through her morning skin care regime, packing her school bag (a 40 cm soft, brown leather Hermes Birkin bag) with her books, blood sugar monitor, candy, Louis Vuitton wallet, epi-pen, and a few makeup items, doing her hair and makeup, and getting dressed she was ready for school an hour before it started.

As Zero struggled to get ready in time and to even make it out of bed Rose was back out in the yard looking at the Morinozuka house across the street with a lollipop in her mouth. She could hear something going on beyond the wall that separated the two houses. Curious, she walked over to the wall and peaked over the edge while standing on one of the poolside lounges. She could see Mori-senpai practicing with a younger boy she assumed to be his younger brother. They were using practice swords and Mori-senpai was teaching his brother very patently. The American watched with a smile, a faint idea crossed her mind about how he would make an excellent father someday. The younger Morinozuka waved to her when he saw her. Mori-senpai smiled and waved to her too. Rose nearly fell off of the lounger when Rambo, Zero's German Shepherd, pounced on her legs.

"_God damn it Rambo! Don't do that! You stupid, retarded dog!" _She yelled and smacked the dog on the snout. A laugh came from the other side of the wall and then a woman's voice telling them to get ready for school. Jack and her father had come out to say goodbye for the day and Rose went into find her brother.

))))((((

Zero glared over at Kaoru and Hikaru, he really hated how Hikaru was touching his brother. Kyoya was watching them and not doing a very good job of hiding it.

"I'm pretty sure those girls are lesbians." Rose told her brother in English, pointing to the girls at Haruhi's table. Rose had wondered into the Host Club after fencing practice and was sitting next to him in her fencing uniform with her mask sitting in her lap. Tamaki and Kyoya allowed her to sit with her brother if she happened to get out of her club activities before him.

"You can't be serious." Zero took his attention away from Hikaru. "Not everybody knows." He replied, low enough that his clients couldn't hear him. Rose grinned at him. It wasn't a myth that twins tended to be fairly mischievous people.

"It's really hot wearing all these layers! I'll be back in a second Zero." She said and picked up her black Adidas by Stella McCartney duffle bag off the floor. A few people noticed that she had left the room for the dressing area.

A few minutes later the curtain flapped open and Rose walked back into the room. People gapped at her and what she was wear. She had stripped down to the base layer she wore under her uniform; a pair of black Adidas by Stella McCartney micro running shorts, a skin tight, pink spaghetti tank-top that was short enough to leave a couple of inches of her stomach bare, and her uniform's thigh high black socks. As she walked out she was pulling her hair back into a ponytail, making the tank-top ride up her body. Zero looked over at Haruhi's table and sure enough the girls were watching her intently. They could clearly see her elegant collar bones, flat abs, her strong legs, and the bumps her hip bones made. Mori-senpai was staring at her, Honey-senpai completely forgotten for a moment.

"That's better." Rose said, sitting down next to her brother who was now staring at her, his attention taken away from his new boyfriend. "You know, you remind me of Jack when you wear your glasses."

"I think that he looks handsome!" His client said.

"And the dark blonde hair is a good look too!" Another said.

"Funny you should mention that, I really hate this color. I don't think it suites me." He told them. "Do I look different with my natural hair color and glasses?" He asked with a charming smile.

"Yes!" The three girls said in unison. Hikaru's face betrayed his irritation at the girls fawning over him. But then again, that's what they were here for wasn't it? He watched as Rose stood up from the sofa when her cell phone started to vibrate. She left the room talking on the phone in English. Zero's eyes caught Hikaru's and smiled sweetly at him.

A few minutes later Rose came back in and leaned down to whisper in his ear. Zero stood up, excused himself, and took the phone from her. Rose bowed, apologizing to the girls, and fallowed him out.

"What's going on?" Hikaru asked. They didn't return until the clients were gone. Rose and Zero looked tired and worried.

"They're here." Zero said a little shocked. "Damn, I thought we had more time!"

"Who's here?" Hikaru asked his boyfriend, concerned.

"Tom, Madeline, wardrobe, cinematography, and Simon." Rose told them. "We have a meeting today after school."

"That doesn't seem too bad." Haruhi said but the twins groaned.

"Our grandfather and uncle Giorgio are going to be in town this week for business too. So it's gotten busier." Zero told her. There was a knock at the door and Jack came into the room. He didn't have to say anything; they knew that they were late. They sighed and said goodbye. As they passed through the door they gave the Host Club one last look, as if they were begging for help.

))))((((

"Arg! My face is freakin' killing me!" Rose rubbed her nose. Yesterday had been long and tiring after leaving the host club they were thrown into work, mostly wardrobe and makeup test and the confirmed looks for the first two thirds of the movie. The pictures they had taken yesterday would be used in the promotions and posters. They had a lot to do for pre-production and not a lot of time so they were cramming it all in as fast as they could. "I wouldn't have agreed to do it if I had known it would hurt this much! Fucking contracts! From now on we don't sign anything without Jack."

"Agreed." Zero said with a frown, his own face was in pain. He put the surgical mask on his face and Rose did the same. "I don't think we'll get far with this. A couple of days max. I'm worried that this plus the…um…other head gear…will be a little suspicious." Zero was wearing a hoodie under his uniform blazer, the hood was pulled up. Rose was wearing a purple scarf wrapped around her head; the ends were twisted into a bun at the base of her skull. They had also timed it so that they would walk into class as soon as it started.

"Ok. Here goes nothing." Rose said, her hand on the door knob. They both took a deep breath and walked into class. They knew that their classmates were all talking and staring but they didn't pay attention.

"What's with the masks? You aren't sick are you?" Someone asked them quietly. They just shook their heads because the teacher had just entered the classroom. He stared at them, making the pair of Americans nervous.

"Are you two sick?" The teacher asked them.

"Um…a little." Rose told him, squirming in her seat.

"I doubt that and you aren't allowed to wear anything on your head and Zero, you aren't in your proper uniform! I expect better from you two! You won't get special treatment because you're celebrities!" He said. "Take them off." The twins looked at each other, a little panicked.

"_Damn, looks like we got made a lot sooner than we thought."_ Zero said. The two bent their heads as they untied their masks. All eyes were on them. Even Kyoya turned around to watch the pair in curiosity. Rose untied the scarf from her head and the room erupted in shocked whispered. Tamaki and Kyoya were even more shocked than anybody else. They looked up, really put out by the spectacle they were forced into. They had both dyed their hair black and had streaks of red highlighting it. Zero's hair had been cut to add more volume to it. Rose's usually curly hair was bone straight with bangs falling over her left eye, she had more layers in her hair too. But the hair wasn't the other thing that changed. The left side of their bottom lips had identical black hoop piercings, Zero had a gauged ring in one ear and the left side of Rose's nose had a double piercing as well as a couple of new ear piercings. The new additional holes looked inflamed and an angry red. Zero's clients were snapping pictures of them on their cell phones in a fan-girl flurry.

"Everyone shut up and open your text books!" The teacher demanded in an unusually angry tone and the class obeyed. "You two see me after class." He glared at the Americans and class began.

Once math was over the two put away their books and went outside into the hallway to talk to the teacher. Their classmates were loitering near the door to try and hear. Kyoya and Tamaki were the closest to them.

"You both know that _this_," The teacher indicated their piercings and hair with a sneer. "Is completely against school rules!"

"We know sensei. That's way a copy of our contract was faxed to the chairman's office this morning." Zero told him, "There was a clause that stated we had to undergo this makeover. I'm sure he'll understand."

"Fine, but I don't like it. This is Ouran Academy not some lowly American public high school!" The teacher shouted at them before leaving. The twins both thought about how much of an asshole he was. It wasn't like they had wanted to do this. They didn't want to be stared at and be the subjects of hushed, shocked whispers more than they already were. The twins went back to class and took their seats. It was going to be a long day and they had two classes left before lunch.

The bell had rung and the cafeteria was full. Usually it was easy for Hikaru to find Zero but today he wasn't having any luck. _Where is he? Did he have to stay after class?_ Hikaru wondered as Haruhi, Mori, and Honey joined the Hitachiin twins in line. Ahead of them they saw Kyoya and Tamaki in line talking to two people with horrendously bright red-streaked hair, a girl and a guy. He could only see them from the back but it was enough to ridicule them.

"Hey Kaoru, check out the freakazoids ahead of Kyoya-senpai and tono!" Hikaru snickered and Kaoru nearly began to laugh.

"Isn't hair like that against the rules?" Haruhi commented. Hikaru was laughing at Kaoru who was joking about it when Hikaru notice the way the guy stood and pushed his hair back. Then he saw the ring on the girl's right ring finger.

"Oh my God…" Hikaru's jaw drop when he realized who it was. Mori seemed to realize it too, he was ridged and wide eyed. Time slowed as the pair turned around after paying.

"Oh…uh…hey Hikaru." Zero said nervously. He hadn't really thought about how he would bring up the 'make-over' with his new boyfriend. "So, um…we met with the crew yesterday! First thing was wardrobe and they…uh…kinda talked us into it…ok, maybe it was in the contract that we didn't really read through…but…I don't have to always wear it right?"

"I can't believe you actually did that." Hikaru said, though he didn't mind the new additions. In fact, he was actually thrilled by it. The 'bad-boy' thing was kind of turning him on.

"My face feels like someone attacked me with a stapler…" Rose said as if it some unimportant piece of information. The group moved to their secluded table away from everyone else and sat down to eat.

"So…uh…what's with the sudden change?" Haruhi asked.

"Well, when we got home yesterday we were ambushed for the official wardrobe test photos. The hair and makeup lady, Stacy, the head of wardrobe, Lisa, and the director Tom apparently went shopping and picked out a lot of goth-y, emo, punk-y stuff by h. NAOTO and Hangry & Angry. So we spent an hour arguing about what our characters would actually wear. We talked about how they would dress through the movie and how it will deteriorate and its practicality. Stacy and Lisa went a little over board but we got them to tone it down." Zero told them.

"This is toned down?" Kaoru asked. "I wouldn't want to know what they had in mind before."

"Well…anyways…there's still some little personal touches missing so Rose and I are going shopping after school." Zero told them.

"Oh! Wanna see the makeup and wardrobe test shots?" Rose took out her iPhone, navigated to her e-mail, and opened the pictures. She turned the phone around to show the others. It was a picture of Rose in a black layered skirt, ripped red and black tights, knee high lace up boots with thick soles, and grey and black striped hooded shirt with a faded peace sign printed on it. She had a handgun is one hand and a scabbard machete clipped onto one of the two belts she was wearing. She looked completely different from the polished, happy Rose they knew. The girl in the picture's nerves and senses were as taunt as a tight rope, a vigilant soldier ready to protect herself. "That's an M21 sniper weapons system strapped to my back! It has a range of 750 feet and has a 20 round magazine of 7.62 mm cartridges. It also has a 10x40 scope mounted on it. Unfortunately, this is dummy gun salvaged from another movie set. I really wanted to test it out. I fired a M24 before and it was amazing! It's got a range of 800 meters! M24's are bolt-action too. M21's are gas powered rotating bolt action. Personally, I like the M24 better but the M21's more obtainable since it's older. The handgun is a third generation Glock 17. My character steals it from a dead MP when they're running back to the hotel in the beginning of the movie. I get the best guns! I'm so excited!"

The group was a little shocked to hear the young woman ramble off technical specifications about sniper rifles and handguns like it was completely natural for a Louis Vuitton toting, Chanel wearing, Rolls Royce driving 17-year-old heiress to know these things. She was a tough person, they had begun to see that now, but to think that she could shoot a gun was the last thing that came to mind when one thought of Rosabella Z. Lawrence. They all, minus Zero and Kyoya, stared at her slack jawed.

"What?" Rose asked, confused about the reaction she was getting.

"Uh…how do you know so much about guns?" Kaoru asked her. The others waited for her answer nervously.

"Our paternal grandfather runs a weapons factory. They have standing contracts with several countries and their armed forces. Our family grew up learning about and respecting guns." Rose tilted her head in confusion. "You didn't know?" Everyone (but Kyoya and Zero) shook their heads.

"That's not important right now." Zero sighed then turned to Hikaru. "We're going to be busy for the next few weeks. I don't think we'll have any free time at all but Rose has a strange talent for getting out of things and getting all of her work done anyways!" Zero paused to glare daggers at his sister. "I'm sorry Hikaru. We're finally together and I'm booked solid!" He pouted at his boyfriend. "Forgive me?"

"As long as you make it up to me." Hikaru said, mouth set in a stern line. Zero smiled and nodded.

"Promise!" Zero said happily. The group tucked into their meals, fragments of conversation flitted around the group, until the bell rang.

))))((((

While the other classes had English class the few non-Japanese or the students who grew up in another country had Japanese as a Second Language. It wasn't separated by grade because there weren't enough students in the class. It was divided by beginner, intermediate, and Japanese Proficiency test students. There were only a few testing students this year, then three siblings from Thailand left leaving only four students. Rose and Zero joined the two half-French students, Renge and Tamaki.

Today the testing group was working on their calligraphy and writing skills. Rose was getting frustrated, her penmanship was horribly sloppy for a girl and Renge was teasing her about it.

"Ha! Rose-senpai, your page looks like it was written by a stroke victim!" Renge pointed out. Rose leaned over and saw that Renge's was a lot better than hers. "It's horrible!" Rose flipped her paper over and wrote in her hectic, exaggerated, pointy script, in perfect French; _SHUT YOUR NOISE TUBE DEAMON OTAKU BEAST!_ Renge glared at her and the American grinned.

On the other side of the room Zero was using all of his art skills to create a master piece of rose covered, elegant calligraphy with an Italian motif that read "Suoh Tamaki loves Fujioka Haruhi (long time)." At the bottom was a drawing of Haruhi in a bridal kimono and Tamaki dressed as a groom next to her.

"What are you drawing?" Tamaki asked. Zero turned it over and showed the large piece of paper to him. Tamaki had a spontaneous nosebleed and fainted when he saw it.

"I hope he wakes up before PE…" Rose said. "What did you show him?" Rose asked her brother. Rose laughed loudly, startling the younger kids that were doing exercises with the teacher across the room. "Haha! Don't show that to Renge, she'll throw a fan-girl fit." She whispered to him. "Maybe we shouldn't tease him so much…" Rose said as an afterthought.

"No. Maybe he's just has some weird pheromone that makes him an excellent target for twins." Zero said, leaning over to look at the other boy. "Tamaki, you have to finish, we only have five minutes left." That got the boy up and back to his work.

Japanese as a second language (or JSL) was over and they went their separate ways. Renge went back to 1-A and the three went down to the gym for PE class. They changed into their gym clothes. The boys wore black and light blue trimmed baseball pants, baseball caps, cleats, and shirts. The girls wore black and pink trimmed tight short-sleeve shirts, knee high socks, running shoes, baseball caps, and vintage looking shorts. Rose's were particularly short thanks to the fact that she was considerably taller than the other girls and her butt was a little plump, but the guys (and some of the girls) seemed to love it. Plus their gym teacher was a guy and he was a little 'relaxed' with the girls' uniforms.

Rose walked onto the field after changing to join Kyoya, Tamaki, and Zero. She gravitated over to her brother, standing so close their skin was touching, like most of the time. The Lawrence twins were close, not as close as the Hitachiin twins, nothing inappropriate happened (or pretended to happen) between them. It still made his clients flutter when they saw them together. Now Kyoya was eyeing the pair, she could see the wheels in his head turning. It only lasted a moment when the PE teacher came out. On the other side of the baseball field was another class, she didn't know which one though.

"Ok! This week we're going to have a tournament with the other PE classes in baseball!" The PE teacher and baseball coach (who was a former pro baseball player himself) told the 2-A class. Most of the boys were happy while the girls generally complained. "Pick your team's positions and get out on the field." The class huddled together. There were enough people for two teams but some of the classmates weren't athletic. That had to be the reason they hadn't been split up.

"Anybody here on the baseball team?" Someone asked but no one answered. "Ok, has anybody been on any baseball team?"

"Zero played at our last high school." Rose offered.

"Rose can pitch. We used to practice together with our dad when he was in _The Curse of the Bambino._ I was the catcher on our high school team and the cleanup hitter. Rose and I have all the signs down already." Zero told the class.

"Well, we have that down. Anyone else?" Kyoya asked. Eventually they worked out the roster and set out to the field.

))))((((

It was the bottom of the eighth, there were 2 runners on base, 2 outs, and Rose wasn't doing a bad job at pitching. At least until Hideki Tsukahara, the star of the baseball team and the cleanup batter, took the mound. So far she hadn't been able to throw anything decent his way and wasn't surprised when he hit her third pitch. Hard. And hit her right on the head. The next moment she fell limp to the ground.

"_Oh God! Rose!" _Zero threw off his gear and ran towards his sister. Mori and the other host club members came running for the pitcher's mound. "Rose, are you alright? Rosabella! Open your eyes damn it!" Zero screamed as Mori looked at the bump on her head.

"Oh my God! She's dead!" Honey screamed. Tamaki was crying along with him as Kyoya came running to the mound from the dugout.

"Concussion." He told them simply, his eyebrows knitted and the corners of his mouth turned down in a frown.

"Rose, Rose…can you hear me?" Kyoya asked as the PE teacher leaned down to look at her. Rose groaned as Kyoya moved her head to look at it.

"I'll take her to the infirmary." The teacher said, moving to pick her up.

"No, she'll need an ambulance." Kyoya said. Zero and Mori were visibly disturbed by the thought that she was injured enough to warrant an ambulance to be called. Then the girl stirred, sat up, and looked at the group with startled eyes. She shook her head and stood up.

"Rose! Are you ok?" Zero asked her.

"_Yeah, I'm fine."_ She told him, dusting herself off.

"You shouldn't be standing up." Kyoya told her.

"_I'm fine._" She responded in English again.

"Oh my God, I thought you were dead!" Tamaki said through his tears.

"_Stop crying Tamaki. I'm fine, let's just get back to the game."_ Rose said. The others shared concerned looks between them.

"You got hit really hard Rose-chan." Honey said.

"Stop screwing around Rose! Are you ok? Do you think you can walk to the nurse's office?" Zero asked her again.

"_I'm fine! Quit treating me like I'm a child and get back to the game! We were winning! Come on you guys!" _Rose yelled at them, waving her arms. "_I'm fine! I'm fine! I'm fine! It was just a little bump!" _She turned to Mori, who had been on third base when she was hit. _"You saw it Mori-senpai, I wasn't hit that hard was I? Tell them!" _Mori just blinked at her. "_What? What's wrong?_"

"Rose, you're speaking in English." Kyoya told her.

"_Oh, right…_" She turned to her brother and said, "_Maybe I should go to the hospital after all."_

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twitter[dot]com::

**Moe-MoeFan **OMG! Ambulances the baseball field! What's going on?

**Kasanoda Moe-MoeFan, **Heard one of the Lawrence twins was taken to the hospital…

**DevilTwinHikaru Kasanoda** WHICH ONE? WHO GOT HURT?

**DevilTwinKaoru Kasanoda **WHO GOT HURT? WHICH ONE?

**BlackMagicBelzenef DevilTwinHikaru DevilTwinKaoru **Someone told me that Zero had an asthma attack and stopped breathing.

**DevilTwinHikaru BlackMagicBelzenef **0_0! plz tell me ur joking…

**Momoka DevilTwinHikaru** That's what I heard too Hikaru….

**DevilTwinHikaru** **Momoka **!

**TamakiFan111 **I heard Rose-senpai collapsed from exhaustion! Do you think she's anorexic? My cousin collapsed like that b/c she's anorexic….

**HikaruxKaoru4ever **Is the Host Club canceled today? **TamakiFan111** Rose-senpai isn't anorexic. My sis is in her class and says she's always eating b/c she's hypoglycemic.

**TamakiFan111 HikaruxKaoru4ever** Oh, I didn't know that…

**DevilTwinHikaru RealZeroLawrence OotoriKyoya RealRoseLawrence CallMeKing** WTF HAPPENED IN PE TODAY? Everyone's talking about it!

**CallMeKing DevilTwinHikaru** **DevilTwinKaoru **Rose was taken to the hospital! She got hit in the head playing baseball and couldn't speak Japanese anymore!

**Moe-MoeFan CallMeKing **:O Is Rose-senpai ok?

**OotoriKyoya **Rose's CAT scan came back normal. When the swelling goes down she'll be back to normal. And yes, the Host Club is canceled for today. Please accept our apologies.

**Huni **Poor Rose! I was so scared! She was hurt really bad!

**RealZeroLawrence **To clear things up, Rose was hit in the head while playing baseball in PE. She was pitching and the hitter hit the ball directly at her head.

**RealZeroLawrence **She temp. lost the ability to speak Japanese so an ambulance was called since it was obvious she had a concussion.

**RealDavidLawrence **Thank God she's OK! That scared the crap out of me!

**RealGageBrowning** **RealDavidLawrence **…wait…What?

**RealDavidLawrence RealGageBrowning **Rose has a concussion. Luckily it's only a mild concussion.

**RealTeaganFaulkner RealRoseLawrence **Get well soon Rose!

**OfficialLadyCoCo RealRoseLawrence** Oh my gosh girl! Are you alright? Hope you feel better soon!

**RealGageBrowning RealRoseLawrence **Get better soon Kiddo! Luv ya!

**RealKyleClinton** **RealRoseLawrence **Feel better dove. My prayers are with you!

**RealRoseLawrence **I'm fine guys. It was nothing. Thanks for your well-wishing and thoughts. I just have a KILLER headache now. Back to the grind tomorrow. Need retail therapy…

))))((((

The next day Rose was back at school and her head still hurt like hell. Hideki had apologized profusely for hitting her. She had a hell of a time trying to reassure her fencing team captain (Koizumi Watanabe), Tom Donaghey, her teachers, and everyone else that she was going to stay on schedule for the rest of the week. That included a dinner between Palladio Internazionale and a Japanese medical company that her uncle Giorgio and grandfather (the heads of Palladio Internazionale) wanted her to tag along to that night and a fencing tournament the day after next. It was a welcome rest from the busy week. The day was spent in a haze and then they were taken away to the hotel where the production team and cast members who had come to Tokyo were staying. It felt like one moment she was sitting at the Host Club's table at lunch and the next she was sitting on the sofa next to Simon with her script in her lap and someone, one of her stylists, was pinning back her hair.

"They're right sis. It's better if we stick together." Zero read from the script in character.

"I'd rather take my chances. I wouldn't trust that crazy fuck Standish with my car keys and you expect me to trust him with my life? I don't think so. You may not have to worry about being raped in the middle of the night! We don't know these people. They could throw us to the wolves whenever it suites them! I say that we stay here until we get enough ammo and food and gas to get the hell out of here but I'm not going to stick my neck out for them." Rose read her lines.

"What about that little girl, Maggie? Who's going to look out for her?" Zero said.

"She's a kid, how could we not?" Rose said with trepidation.

"Great! Now let's work on the scene Helena and Standish have their first conflict on page 28." Tom instructed the two. "At least before Rose has to leave." Rose looked down at the script, it was a turning point.

"Are you stupid or something?" Simon yelled at her. "You think running around like some hero is going to help anyone?"

"Why do you care if what I do ends up with me dying?" Rose asked him. "It's none of your business anyways! I'm just some punk kid you don't give a shit about right?" This is the part where 'Standish' pushes 'Sioux/Helena' against the wall with his fists in her shirt, nearly choking her.

"Because you're too careless and your survival is important!" Simon yelled at her.

"Important to who?" Rose choked out. "You?" In the script he drops her and she stands up straight and gives him a deadly stare (or, at least, that's what she was going to do even if it wasn't in the script). "You don't need or want me. I'm nobody, remember?" If they were rehearsing she would have walked up to him, glaring at him, poking him in the chest. "Listen shit-bag, my name's not Sioux. It's just a stage name. Sue, S-U-E, was always a shorter version of my nickname since junior high. Do you know what Sue is short for?" She asked him in a condescending tone. "Sue is short for suicide!" In the script he was supposed to be shocked, she was supposed to light a cigarette…blah, blah, blah. "I'm a nobody, I'm death on two legs, and I sure as hell don't give a shit what happens to me, much less you."

"If that's all you want to be then fine, I don't give a shit." Simon nearly growled. "Only the strong will survive this hell on earth. Are you strong or are you nobody?"

"I'm just the crazy chick, a stock character in this little horror show." She said with an evil grin.

"Great! But there's something missing." Tom said. Simon nodded his agreement. "Standish is too caring; it has to be ambiguous as to if he really cares about her or if he just wants to use her to make sure he can survive. It has to be obvious that Helena thinks he's using her to secure his own wellbeing."

"Yeah, I get it." Rose said scratching the back of her tightly pinned back hair. It was so tightly wound up it was painful. "What if we cut out the lines after 'I don't give a shit' or something?"

"That works." Simon agreed. Rose's phone beeped signaling she had to get ready. The others ignored her as she went to get her hanging bag from the closet and got ready.

When she left they tore themselves away from the script long enough to say goodbye. Zero was silently begging her to take him with her but he had gone to the dinner before that so it was her turn. She just smiles at Zero, who had a sleeping Madeline in his lap and is completely stuck where he is.

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In the best restaurant in Tokyo, that took up the top floor of a high rise in Shibuya, the most wealthy business men in Japan negotiated and networked with domestic and international CEOs and CFOs while they sipped Dom Perignon, smoked Havana cigars, and ate 5 star dinners created by world renowned chefs as they looked out over the city. It wasn't any different for Yoshio Ootori either, who had brought his youngest son along to teach him about how these things worked. It was a test for the high school student.

"His granddaughter will be joining us too." Yoshio Ootori told his youngest son. "I believe she's called Rose Lawrence. He said that she was in your class. Do you know her?"

"Yes. She's very smart, the oldest grandchild of Silvio Palladio. She has a fraternal twin brother called Zero. Her mother, a singer who's stage name is Bianca Rococo, is Mr. Palladio's fourth out of five children. Rose is a very talented actress and singer, something that the Palladio family supports because they have a long line of artists and musicians in the family. In fact, Rose has won several awards and considered a child protégée after her role in _Nadia's Platoon_. Zero is a talented actor as well but was awarded a MacArthur fellowship last year for his artwork. They're descendents of the de' Medici and Romanov family as well. The Romanov connection is on their father's side of the family though. Both of the Lawrence twins are exceptionally smart." Kyoya told him but he was a bit panicked by the idea of Rose showing up in her current state, the results of her 'movie make-over' and her pension for tight, short dresses and stiletto heels. _I don't doubt that she __**might **__be able to behave herself, but so help me God, if she shows up with that metal in her face, red streaked hair, and dressed like a teen idol I swear I'll make her suffer! _Kyoya promised himself.

They were still in the lounge when the Palladio party joined them, right on time. The two tall Italian men entered the lounge, dressed impeccably, Kyoya noticed how handsome they were and confident they look. Then he saw Rose and nearly sighed in relief. Her hair had obviously been pinned up so she could wear a wig that almost matched her natural hair color and style. He couldn't see the new piercings as well. She was dress elegantly in a deep sapphire blue, silk jersey wrap dress with tight long sleeves, with a plunging neckline that stopped just above indecency that billowed slightly above her knees. Her black patent leather shoes had a slight heel but still left her inches shorter than the men and they matched her envelope shaped clutch purse. Her jewelry was inoffensive and appropriate, with a teardrop shaped black mother-of-pearl pendent surrounded by diamonds that hung on a dark silver chain around her neck. Her earrings were a cluster of dark silver chains with diamonds dangling at the ends and larger ones at the top, and bangles covered in bright gemstones set on dark metal and a stunning Arpel and Van Cleef watch. Her makeup was tasteful and muted but she still looked a little sexy. Kyoya was speechless. If he were interested in women at all he might consider pursuing a romantic relationship with Rose.

"Ootori-san, it's a delight to see you again!" Silvio said in Japanese as Kyoya's father shook his hand. Giorgio and Rose bowed to them and Kyoya did the same. "This is my granddaughter, Rose Lawrence."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Ootori-san." She said with a bow.

"Likewise." He said a bit stiffly. "This is my youngest son Kyoya." They got the polite introductions out of the way and sat down for drinks in the private lounge as they waited for their table. Somehow, in the small coven of plush chairs, Kyoya ended up sitting on a loveseat with Rose. Luckily she was skinny enough that it wasn't awkward but his elbow kept hitting her in the ribs. She gracefully adjusted herself without anybody noticing. They were discussing locations for a joint project that was in the early planning stages.

"The east coast of the United States seems to be a good choice." Silvio said. "A lot of people are gathered in the coastal cities." Rose perked up at this.

"Excuse me, _nonno,_ but according to uncle Rihard the issue with the Health Care bill is heating up and unstable. It's may not be the best time to open a hospital in America." Rose told them politely.

"Who is uncle Rihard?" Kyoya's father asked.

"Oh, my father's older brother, Rihard Potočnik, is a senator for the state of New York. He's been in Washington D.C. since the bill reached the senate floor." She told him. Kyoya looked sideways at her, she wasn't bad. "I think that maybe Russia or Singapore would be better. We already own a lot of land in both countries anyways so we have a rapport with them. Singapore also has the lowest infant mortality rate and has a highly developed state capitalist economy. Palladio Umbrella Company stores are doing very—" Rose stopped abruptly when a low flying plane flew overhead. Her hand gripped her glass almost tight enough to shatter the glass. Her other hand gripped the cushion, her eyes widened. Her uncle and grandfather looked tense for a moment as well. "Sorry…"

"Are you alright?" Kyoya asked softly.

"I'm fine." She told him. "It's nothing." She took another sip of her ginger ale to regain her composure. "I was saying the stores are doing very well there. We increased our stores by 3% recently there too."

"Gentlemen, ma'am, your table is ready." A waiter came to get them at that moment. The group got up and fallowed him to the dining room with the view of Tokyo tower. They sat, Kyoya between his father and Rose, and looked at the menu. He orders the arugula salad with balsamic dressing and the seared scallops in a fennel and dill sauce. He wasn't surprised when the waiter took her menu without her ordering, saying that her special order was being prepared.

Kyoya listen adamantly and silently to the other men at the table, much like Rose was doing. But Rose was trying to not let her boredom show on her face. They were talking business, networking, about how Rose was, in fact, a duchess. Kyoya could still see that she was bored and a little embarrassed by the fact her grandfather had worked that into the conversation somehow. Her uncle seemed to see this and rescued her.

"Why don't you and your friend go dance?" Giorgio said with a smile. Kyoya looked at his father who gave him a silent command. Kyoya put on a fake smile and held out his hand to Rose.

"Rose, would you care to dance?" Kyoya asked. Rose raised one perfectly plucked and shaped eyebrow at him.

"Why yes, Kyoya, thank you for the offer." Rose said with a grin. She took his arm and he led her to the dance floor.

"Admit it. You thought I would show up with the piercings and funky hair when you found out I'd be showing up, didn't you?" Rose said with a grin. Kyoya gave her a look that said it all. "You aren't the only one that has to keep up with everybody else. You're also not the only person who has to keep a reputation. I know that my behavior and appearance reflects onto my family. I don't take it lightly you know."

"You're not at all like I imagined you would be _Duchessa. _I don't know nearly enough about you like I do nearly everybody else of any interest to me." Kyoya said they danced. "I didn't know you actually had any interest in your family's companies."

"You aren't the only one who does." Rose sighed and looked over at her table. "To be honest, even if I do have intentions to be involved the companies, I wanted to get out of the house. The movie group is still there pushing us to finish several weeks of work into a single week, I have mountains of homework to do, an up-coming concert I'm performing in, and not to mention the fact that my mother OD'ed this morning and is still in the hospital. I'm stressed from work. I'm furious and ashamed of my mother's behavior. Every time I think I've shaken her off for good she pops back into my life in the most undignified ways possible." Kyoya thought that she was going to cry or she was going to have a panic attack.

"When did you find this out?" He asked out of reflex and not concern.

"When I left the hotel suit where we were working on our lines with Simon, Tom, and Maddie I got a call from the hospital then my grandfather and uncle confirmed it." She told him looking down at her feet as they moved across the smooth, glossy floor. "She's such a fucking idiot." She sighed. "I think it's going to be bad this time too." When she looked up into his questioning eyes she stopped herself, eyes wide. "Why the hell am I telling _you_ this? It's not like you care anyways!" She stuck her tongue out at him.

"You're telling me because I'll listen." He replied, spinning her.

"No you won't. Well, you might listen but you won't give a damn which is just as bad as not listening but I only know a few people that I can talk to and know that they won't go blabbing to the tabloids." She said thoughtfully as the pair turned on the dance floor so she now faced their table. Rose laughed and turned them around so she wasn't facing them. "I think our families are conspiring to get us together Kyoya." She told him, her mirth showing in her eyes and smile. He looked over at the table. His father and her Grandfather had their heads together, all eyes were on them. He rolled his eyes at Rose, who was still laughing.

"It would seem so…" Kyoya couldn't believe it. If his father did want them dating he would do it.

"Not like I would mind, I don't know how things will go with Mori-senpai. He's just too quiet for me, I'm just a little worried things won't work out...and the Prince of England has first dibs on arranged marriages anyways." Rose said as her laughter died off. Kyoya glared at her but it only caused her to start laughing again.

"How delightful, Rose. You really know how to behave for someone of your status." He said icily but it didn't really work on her, she was too amused by the tone of jealousy.

"Oh come off it Kyoya!" Rose said. She gasped in surprise when Kyoya dipped her without warning. Rose suppressed a unladylike squeal and glared at her classmate when she was upright again. "Jerk." The song ended on a high note and the classmates stopped dancing.

"Does the Prince of England really have a marriage arrangement set up with you?" Kyoya asked as they walked back to the table where their family members and their salads were waiting.

"Well, if we're both single when we're 25 and 28 we have a little agreement." She told him honestly. "Not like I mind. He's not terribly stupid or ugly or mean or anything."

The two sat down and ate. Listening to Mr. Palladio tease his granddaughter and the conversation turned back to business the high school students listened adamantly. The rest of the dinner lived up to the hype surrounding the restaurant and the two companies had come to some terms of agreement that would be laid down in a more formal business setting in the coming days. So now the Ootori family and Palladio family were connected and, maybe, the youngest Ootori son and the oldest Palladio grandchild had just sparked a friendship.

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Author's note: Sorry guys. The date scene and the fencing tourney scene were getting too long and I figured it would be better to just cut them and put them in the next chapter. I don't know if I like this chapter or not. I got stuck getting from the end of the last chapter to the date scene it took forever! Let me know what you think!


	7. Surprise

A short (horrible) chapter for everyone! As proof that I'm still writing and giving you an idea of what is going on. Let me know what you think!

Go back and re-read the end and author's note of chapter 6 "Class".

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The week wasn't going well for Rose. The date with Mori had been less than stellar and the two had decided to remain friends. Then production on _The Damned _had been canceled. Rose was in a depression, had a sore face from letting everything but the nose piercing heal over, and had dyed her hair blond to match her brother's natural color. And now she was having phenomenal trouble with her literature class. Rose was frustrated and had spent half of the class looking up Kanji she didn't know than paying attention and missed half of the lecture. After class she bit the bullet and asked for help.

"Kyoya, do you have time to tutor me? I'm really horrible with kanji." Rose confessed to him. She could see the wheels in his head turning and he pushed his glasses up his nose.

"I have about 2 hours free on Sunday. Would you like to meet at your house?" He asked her. Rose nodded and thanked him with a sigh of relief. Maybe now she wouldn't fail the exams.

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"Ah, hello Kyoya...Would you like some coffee?" Rose asked him. It was noon but she could tell her classmate had just woken up.

"Yes, thank you Rose." He replied gratefully as she lead him to the kitchen. "I've been meaning to ask, how are you this week Rose?"

"Ugh, I went on a pretty dull date with Mori-senpai and we decided to just stay friends. I got second in the fencing tourney and I hate it when I don't come in first. Production on _The Damned _was canceled. I'm failing literature because I can't find the books in English or Italian or Russian _anywhere _and I'm horrible with kanji. I have too much to study, I'm way behind and I have club stuff and a concert to perform in and a premier to go to. I'm a little stressed and haven't been watching what I'm eating so I was sick with my hypoglycemia recently... Thanks for the help Kyoya." Rose just let loose and told him everything as she made him coffee. She handed him the cup and he followed her. Up to her room, which wasn't proper if her brother, father, and father's partner weren't there.

"Is this alright? Aren't you the only one home?" He asked her as he followed her down the hall. Rose raised an eyebrow at him.

"It's fine...if you don't mind that is." She said and moved her head back to look around in front of her. He watched her hips sway from side to side in her insanely short warm-up shorts. Kyoya couldn't help but stare at her ass as she walked.

"I don't mind." Kyoya replied, wondering why she was wearing short shorts and a low-cut tank top to study in.

"Ok then." She said and opened the door to her bedroom. "I'll get you some lunch when we're done, it's the least I can do. Our chef is amazing."

"Sounds delightful." Kyoya took a seat at the large desk in the sitting area of Rose's room (more like a suit). The bed wasn't even in sight of the desk. He watched as Rose leaned down to get her books from her bag on the floor giving him a good view of her pink thong.

"Oh, next week is our birthday. Did you get your invitation?" She asked the Shadow King.

"Yes, I plan on attending. What kind of party is it?" Kyoya asked.

"A slumber party. It's just the host club that was invited. We've never have a slumber party before. It should be fun!" She said to him.

"Sounds...interesting." Kyoya said then turned his attention back over to the reason he was currently in her room. "So what are you having problems with?"

"Um...I need help with half of the JLPT level 2 and most of the level three kanji." Rose said and placed a small stack of books, pen case, and notebooks on the desk and took the chair next to him. Kyoya wrote something down in a notebook. "The...best...way...to...I don't know that one...or that one...kanji..." Rose read as he wrote.

"Memorize..._anki..."_ Kyoya told her. She sighed and opened up a book.

Two hours later she had nearly all of the kanji in the story they were reading, and even more, down and could almost write them all as well.

"No, you have to write that shorter." Kyoya corrected her when she was writing a character. Rose looked at the character she wrote and the one that Kyoya had. Hers was stumpy and ugly while his was elegant and perfect. She re-wrote it more legibly and Kyoya declared that was enough for the day.

"Ok, ready for lunch? How do Paninis sound?" She asked him as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail, her back arching and shirt riding up to show off a good three inches of skin. Rarely does another teenagers' body captivate Kyoya like Rose's did.

"Perfect." He said, though as a reply or otherwise was unknown.

"Ok, I'll let the kitchen know." She said and went to the phone next to her sofa to call the kitchen. Juno came into the room and sat down in front of him and stared at him. "Juno, you be nice. He's a friend." She scolded the dog who huffed and laid down. "Do you think you can help me next week too?"

"If you wish." And Rose nodded.

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It was after school the next day when Kyoya's father and Rose's grandfather requested that they meet with them. Zero was pissed that he wasn't allowed into meeting and waited for her at home. Rose was brought into Yoshio Ootori's office at 6 p.m. and was greeted with her smiling, happy grandfather, a stern Ootori, and her uncle.

"Rose my dear! We have some news for you!" Silvio Palladio said to his wary granddaughter. "It's wonderful news! We've gone over it with your papa and Jack and they agreed to it."

"Your grandfathers, parents, and I all agreed that this is a good opportunity for the both of you." Ootori-san said to her. Rose looked at Kyoya who didn't take his keen eyes off of his father.

"You see, we arranged a marriage between the both of you! You two get along well and who wouldn't want to marry my beautiful, smart granddaughter!" Silvio said patting Kyoya on the back.

"_Grandpa!_" She shouted, embarrassed by him.

"I see." Was all Kyoya said at the time. Rose looked around the room it was obvious that she was the only one that objected the union. She objected, not because she didn't like Kyoya, but because she didn't like having her options taken from her.

"I don't...I don't want to!" She shouted. "I want to make up my own mind as to whom I marry! It's not your chose to make!"

"You two have plenty of time to fall in love. I'm sure you well Bella." Her uncle told her, rubbing her back. "_I know you two get along very, very well."_ He whispered wickedly. Rose turned her back on all of them and left the room. Kyoya followed her all the way out to the front of the house where she standing with her head turned down.

"Is the idea of spending the rest of your life with me so hard on you?" He asked her. Rose shook her head.

"It's not that. It's just...you know." She told him.

"You don't have to worry. We have enough time. There's no date yet for a wedding." Kyoya told her. She shivered at the mention of the wedding. "Why don't we go on a date and see how that goes?" Rose sighed. "I promise, I'm not a terrible person."

"Fine, we can go on a date." Rose relented. _Another damn date that's not going to go anywhere..._She sighed and started walking home.

All for now...I have more in the works coming soon!


	8. Birthday

Hello everyone! Have no fear, I am back with another chapter! So quickly too! I felt bad about how short the last chapter was so I worked on this one as quickly as I could. Un-beta'ed and all with horrible grammar and all. I hope you enjoy it!

Thank you all for reviewing this story! I 3 you for it!

"Happy birthday Rose and Zero!" Tamaki said with an exaggerated flail of his hands when the maids put the cake down on the table. David and Jack started singing the "Happy Birthday Song" in English as the others sang in Japanese. The duo blew out the candles on the two tiered cake, graffiti painted fondant on one side and the other side was covered in roses.

"Wow, cool cake!" Hikaru and Kaoru said in unison. The twins grinned as they cut their sides of the cakes.

"My side's made of the cake is chocolate caramel flavor with white chocolate truffle ganache filling and Silk buttercream. Zero's side of the cake is chocolate fudge flavor with vanilla coffee mousse filling and cappuccino buttercream. You can take your pick." Rose told them as she cut another slice. "Kyoya? Which would you like?" She asked her classmate.

"I'll have a small slice from Zero's side of the cake." He replied and Zero handed him a small slice. The cake was handed out and the tea poured the group of friends insisted that they open their presents.

"This is from me Rose-chan." Honey said handing her an extraordinarily wrapped box covered in gold and pink wrapping paper. Rose tore away the paper and opened the box to find a Steiff plushie rabbit.

"Aw! Thank you Honey-sempai! He is adorable!" Honey gave her a happy little laugh. Zero got a bo from him and a shinai from Mori. Rose got a new saber from Mori as well. "Oh! I needed a new one! Thank you!" Mori nodded to her.

"Here Rose." Haruhi handed her a wrapped present that was obviously a book and sat back down next to Tamaki. She unwrapped it to find a thick volume of the history of Japan. "And Zero, this is for you." She handed him a wrapped book, this one on art in Japan, which Zero was already flipping through.

"Thank you Haruhi!" The twins said with matching smiles. Tamaki started handing out present that had delivered earlier, wanting to save his for last.

"The tag says it's from your cousin." Tamaki said, placing the matching boxes wrapped in black and silver paper in front of them.

"Who is your cousin?" Hikaru and Karou asked, curious about the gothic package sitting in front of their friends. The Americans pulled away the paper to reveal two large boxes from Ringdolls a ball jointed doll company. Rose grinned, wide, and pulled the lid off to find a huge blond girl in a black dress and blood covered apron holding a red chainsaw and blood dripping from her eyes. Zero got a grey haired young looking male doll in a bloody grey suit. The twins traded and sat them up on the edge of the table.

"Oh, it must have been Umehito-itoko..." Rose said as she tried to pose her doll. "He buys us presents every year just like we do for him." The group was shocked by the statement. "What?"

"Nekozawa-senpai is your cousin?" Haruhi asked in disbelief but the twins nodded.

"Yeah, our dad's cousin's kid. He was the only other kid in the family near our age so we used to hang out a lot during the summer." Zero said and Tamaki put another present in front of him as he tried to pick up the art book Haruhi gave him.

Between the two, their classmates and Zero's clients had given them everything from Mont Blanc Pens, Bond Street perfume and cologne, rare items like teas and tea sets, someone had given Rose a bright purple yukata, Japanese CDs (which Rose snatched up), books (which Zero snatched up), and Rose got another ball jointed doll from Renge and Zero got a shitload of weird dojinshi.

"Time for my brilliant gift!" Tamaki said grandiosely flailing his hands. He sat a large gift bag on each of their laps. Rose pulled away the tissue paper to find a large rilakkuma plushie and Zero found a blue and grey yukata. Rose wrapped her arms around the teddy bear and thanked Tamaki. The blond grinned at his friend. "I told you I give the best gifts! Beat that Kyoya!" The other teenager frowned at him and gave the twins their presents. The two opened them up and Rose's face lit up when she saw what was in the box. Zero got the softest cashmere sweater he had ever seen and pulled it over his head with a goofy grin on his face.

"Thank you Kyoya! How did you know I wanted this?" Rose asked with delight as she pulled the Canon EOS rebel and lens. "Thank you!" She gave him a kiss on the cheek and the Shadow King was actually flustered for a split second.

"You're welcome." Kyoya replied. After that he showed a little more interest in what the female twin was doing. Kaoru handed her a box which contained one of the most beautiful red dress she had ever seen and Hikaru gave her a leather jacket. Kaoru gave Zero a few video games he wanted and Hikaru gave him something that made Zero blush.

"Th-thank you Hikaru..." Hikaru grinned wickedly at his boyfriend.

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After cake and dinner the group went into the entertainment room and turned on the Xbox to play "Michael Jackson The Experience". They were playing in teams, Rose was playing with Kaoru, Tamaki, and Mori, Zero was playing with Honey, Haruhi, and Hikaru while Kyoya watched them with amusement. Each team got to choose the difficulty level and song of the other team.

"This is unfair! Zero get's nothing but perfect scores every time!" Tamaki pouted when Zero completed "Beat It". Hikaru grinned as he set the difficulty level of the next song. "Smooth Criminal" on expert. Team Rose was too distracted arguing to notice until the screen loaded.

"Damn it dude." Rose and the others rushed to their places. The only one who was getting perfects was Rose. It came to the lean and Rose and Mori got goods before Tamiki fell to the floor with a loud thud. The others went on and Team Zero were laughing at the fool.

"I think that's enough of that game." Rose said with a laugh. "Why don't we play Rock Band 3? You too Kyoya." She said to him with a wink.

"Fine."

Rock Band 3 didn't last long before Tamaki and the Hitachiin twins wanted to watch a scary movie. More specifically, a scary movie called _The Haunting of Crescent House_ which stared the then ten-year-old twins. Rose and Zero played concerned children of a single dad who is possessed after moving into an old house.

Rose sat on the floor with her new doll from Renge and her stuffed bunny rabbit with Kyoya next to her and Juno staring at them. She wasn't paying attention but trying to style her new doll's hair. Zero was on the sofa with an arm around Hikaru. Kaoru was on the floor texting someone. Tamaki was on another sofa next to Haruhi trying to get closer to her but she kept moving away. Mori was in a chair with Honey hiding behind him.

_"Daddy?" _Little Rose walked around the outside of the house trying to find her father then down into the boat house. "_Daddy where are you? Jessica said it was time for lunch."_ Little Rose pushed open the door to the dark boat house. She climbed up on the workstation to get a flashlight. She turned it on and saw the wall cover in writing written with her dead dog's blood. Little Rose screamed and ran from the boat house, right into the actor playing her father.

"_WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT GOING INTO THE BOATHOUSE?" _He screamed and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her away. She kicked and screamed as she dragged behind the house off-screen and the sound of a belt hitting flesh was heard and little Rose screaming.

"_No! Daddy! It hurts! It hurts! STOP IT!"_ She screamed at him then there was a cut scene of the girl playing the older sister covering her welts with a balm as little Zero watched.

"You shouldn't do that to children!" Honey-senpai protested.

About an hour later, the movie ended with little Zero shooting his father in the head after killing their older sister Jessica. The only survivors were the twins, who turned out to be possessed after their father was killed.

"That was so scary!" Honey-senpai said, Mori nodded.

"It wasn't bad." Kyoya added and Rose glared at him.

"What do you want to watch next?" Zero asked as he stood up, earning a whine for Hikaru who was comfortably laying against his side.

"Oh, what about _Nadia's Platoon_? I didn't get a chance to watch it." Haruhi said.

"Good chose!" Tamaki agreed.

"I wanna watch _Lost Souls._" Hikaru countered.

"I agree with Tamaki and Haruhi." Kyoya said, not because he wanted to please Tamaki but because he honestly wanted to see the award nominated performance Rose gave when she was eight.

"What about _Cry in the Night_? They gave us the advanced copy they sent to the Japanese newspapers and critics so it should be subbed." Rose asked.

"Good idea!" Zero popped the blu-ray into the player and pressed play. "This is great! I'll be seriously pissed if Rose isn't nominated for another Oscar! She is so brilliant in it. She beat out a bunch of older actresses and-"

"Zero, hush the movie started." Hikaru warned him.

The movie opened up with Rose waking up in a cold, dark cheap hovel of a house in a room nothing but a bed, card table, chair, and a shamble of a dresser. Her body was silhouetted against a large window. She shivered and wrapped the blanket around her body and rushed to the light switch, hopping on the bare, cold floor. The lights didn't turn on.

"_Hey! Did anyone pay the fucking electric bill?" _She yelled into the house but didn't get an answer. Music played and there was a cut scene to Rose walking along a train track in a dirty olive coat, hole covered jeans and shoes, and thick sweater and scarf with a canvas messenger bag slug across her body. The scene changed to her at school in class then reading by herself in the cafeteria, completely ignored other than one friend.

The film progressed a little more before Rose was walking home from the library at night when a truck of men cut her off and pulled her into a field.

"_What's your name beautiful?" _A twenty-something man with blond hair and nice clothes asked her when the men jumped out of the truck and surrounded her. Rose moved away from him and closer to another man.

"_Mind your own fucking business." _Rose said.

"_You kiss your mama with that mouth girlie?" _He asked her and the other men took a hold of her arms. Rose started to kick and scream and the blond man punched her in the face then kicked her in the stomach hard enough to land her on the ground. The blond man pulled down his pants. "_I'll show you how to use that dirty mouth of yours girl!"_

The seven other members of the host club couldn't watch as Rose was raped in violent detail. The scene didn't cut once and the camera stayed mostly on her terrified face until daylight when Rose's broken body was found and she was taken to a hospital.

"Good lord." Kyoya had to fight the urge to look away from the screen as Rose was examined in the hospital, embarrassed, violated, and vulnerable.

Nearly two hours later and the movie was over. Rose's character was revealed to be raped by the son of a judge and the courts fought for justice in her case. Rose's character bonded with a detective in the town and it was ambiguous as to if she was in love with him. She was bullied by her rapist's friends and eventually it became too much and she killed herself out of shame and desperation.

"That was so...I can't believe you killed yourself Rose!" Tamaki said, his eyes finally clear of tears. Rose turned to him with a glare.

"It's just a movie, I didn't really slit my wrists." Rose told him with a yawn.

"Wow Rose, if you don't win an Oscar for that the judges are crazy." Haruhi said to her. Rose turned at smiled at her.

"Thanks Haruhi!" She said. "I worked my butt of on that movie. It was really hard on me...mentally."

"I bet it did." Haruhi replied with a yawn. "I think it's time for bed."

"Ok...The maid will show you to your rooms." Rose told them. "Jack and Dad said stay in your own rooms or they aren't responsible for what happens."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"What would you like to do Rose?" Kyoya asked after everyone went home from the birthday party and it was time for their 'date'. Rose didn't like the idea of being 'engaged' to Kyoya, she still had a crush on Mori even though the guy hardly ever talked and only ever thought about kendo and Honey-senpai. That had been the thing that grinded her. He never talked on the date unless it was about kendo and Honey-senpai. It got old. She had realized that she had never spent that much time with him and this was probably what he was always like. If she didn't like spending hours with him what would dating him be like? Mori was kind-hearted but had no interest in her beyond an innocent friendship. She wanted a guy she had things in common with, she wanted a guy who wanted her, someone she could talk with, someone who would make her the most special person in her life. Mori was a good guy but he didn't have any of those things.

"I want to go people watch at Yoyogi Park." She told him and he raised an eyebrow at her. "I haven't had enough time to see a lot of Tokyo and I enjoy watching people. I guess it's an actor thing. Maybe I could bring the camera you got me and pretend to be a tourist." She teased him.

"Please don't do that." Kyoya protested as he lead the woman to his car. "It's a pleasant day, the park sound nice."

"Don't butter me up. I'm an actress, I'm used to people kissing my ass." Rose warned him as she got into the car.

"This is really weird. Do people do this every weekend?" Rose asked, pointing to the group of badly dancing men in rockabilly outfits. "I would be seriously embarrassed if my father did that every weekend." Rose took another sip of whatever soft drink was in her huge cup.

"I think they do." Kyoya said as he watched the sad sight in front of him. Rose took his arm and guided him away before it got too depressing to watch.

"Come on. I saw a bunch of people dancing to techno over there." Rose said and let go of his arm when he started following her. "It's not as cool as I thought it would be. I shouldn't ever listen to Teagan again."

"Teagan?" Kyoya asked her.

"Yeah, one of my very few real friends in LA." She told him. "She was looking up stuff about Tokyo on the internet and said I should go here and that it would be fun to watch the people here. I'm not really feeling it. It's a really nice park though."

"Meiji Shrine is near here." Kyoya offered the information in hopes that the American would abandon her 'people watching'.

"Oh! Let's go there." Rose strayed from her trajectory of the ravers and started following Kyoya towards the shrine.

The trip was long through the park but Rose enjoyed the walk. She could tell they were getting closer because of all of the tourists in the area. They were stopped a few times so people could take their picture with Rose. She was courteous and politely declined small talk with them before moving on to the Torii Gate. She bowed with Kyoya at the gate before entering and he instructed her on how to wash at the font before moving on to the main shrine building. Rose bought a pamphlet from a nearby stand on the way and was reading through it.

"The shrine was destroyed in World War II? Damn, that horrible. I thought the Americans didn't bomb religious sites." Rose said with an air of disgust.

"Not in Asia, no." Kyoya replied.

"Oh, I wouldn't know. My grandfather fought on the western front before he was captured." Rose said. "Actually, he-no wait, the Nazis blew up the church because they had a gun up on the roof...never mind."

"Your grandfather was captured?" He asked her. Rose nodded.

"Yes. He was sent to Buchenwald." She told him. Kyoya knew what Buchenwald was and didn't push the subject. "Anyways...I don't want to talk about that while at a shrine." Kyoya nodded again. She watched as Kyoya made his offering, bowed twice, clapped twice, and bowed again.

The two explored the shrine as Kyoya tried to explain Shinto to Rose. Rose soon forgot about the park and the bands. After an hour the two were ready to go.

"This is the least likeliest place I would consider for a first date but I liked it." Rose confided to Kyoya. "Thank you for taking me."

"Would you like to get a late lunch now?" Kyoya asked her.

"That sounds good." Rose replied as they walked from the shrine.

"How about sushi?" He asked.

"I'm allergic to seafood, remember?" She asked him.

"There's a shop in Roppongi that sells vegetable sushi." Kyoya told her and she agreed.

The food had been good and the conversation was excellent. Kyoya and Rose talked about various companies, culture, and news articles they had read. All in all, it was a pretty good first date with her new fiancé. By the time they returned they had spent most of the day together at the park, the shrine, a late lunch, and some light shopping.

"I had a good time today Kyoya." She told him as they stood in front of her house. Kyoya smiled at her, a genuine smile this time.

"I did too. Does that mean I get a second date?" He teased her. Rose rolled her eyes at him.

"Maybe." She said with a grin. "I'll see you tomorrow at school."

"I'll see you tomorrow."


	9. Messages

**GOSSIPGAB[DOT]COM**

**Is the relationship between Rose Lawrence and her upperclassman over? It looks like it. Rose was seen around Tokyo with another guy from her brother's school club. Was it a date? Rose seemed to have said it, according to the young woman that took the picture above. Is Rose shopping around or two-timing? Hmm...**

"Is is true?" Tamaki asked Rose when she sat down for class. Tamaki was whispering and acting like it was top secret information.

"Is what true?" Rose asked him.

"That you and Kyoya are engaged!" He asked her. Rose sighed.

"Yeah, our families arranged it." Rose replied as Kyoya sat down next to his friend. The Shadow King seemed different today. After their date Kyoya had texted her twice just to shoot the breeze. She had a feeling it was only because he knew that talking to her was the best way to "court" her. Today his mood seemed lighter and he was nearly smiling though. She didn't want to think that had anything to do with her.

"It's nothing to be concerning yourself about Tamaki." Kyoya told him. "It's not like we'll be getting married any time soon." He assured him.

"I'm gunna vomit..." Zero stage gagged.

"Oh shut it Z." Rose told him and turned to the other two. "So, what are your plans for summer vacation?"

"Oh, I think I'll stay here." Tamaki said bashfully. The three others knew that he was planning or somehow bothering Haruhi in one way or another.

"I have plenty of work that needs to be done. But if you find yourself looking for something to do feel free call me at anytime." Kyoya told her.

"Sure thing." Rose said. "I'll have some free time. I have some photo shoots to do but other than that I'm free."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"Is there something wrong?" Rose asked her farther, uncle, and Jack who had ordered them to the office once they got home.

"It seems that we have a problem." Jack told them. "You two have stalkers. They've been seen around Ouran while you're at school. We need to be careful. Your uncle Greg will be around to watch you. The Tokyo police have been informed and I don't see a reason to let your friends know or alarm your boyfriends."

"Kyoya's not my boyfriend." Rose protested with a groan. The last thing that she needed was to worry about was a stalker. "This is wonderful..."

"Just find them and get them off our case. It's not like they're creepy stalkers." Zero said to them. "As long as they stay away it's not a big deal is it?"

"Don't say that!" David shouted. "Remember the stalker from 5 years ago?" Zero and Rose shuddered. The last stalker of the Lawrence family had gotten into the house and slept in Rose's bed.

"Crap..." Zero said.

"Fine." Rose said.

"We'll be careful." They said in unison.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

It was day three into the summer vacation and Rose found herself in Karuizawa with the Host Club. In some backwards way she was forced into a summer in Karuizawa by Tamaki. Right now, ever Host Club member (but Kyoya) were competing for the right to the last available room in the bed and breakfast. Rose sat with Kyoya outside as she drank her strawberry lemonade watching the boys compete.

"What's the point of this?" She asked Kyoya. "Do you really need to watch this or would you like to go into town with me? I would like to look around." She did want to go into town but she was more interested in seeing if Kyoya would drop everything and take her out.

"That sounds like a good idea." Kyoya said as he closed his notebook and stood up. Rose stood as well, smoothing down her short denim mini skirt. She noticed Kyoya's eyes linger on her legs for a moment too long to be an innocent look.

"Let's get going then." Rose picked up her purse and put her sunglasses on before being escorted out the front gate by her new fiance. Rose took his hand earning her a raised eyebrow from the other teenager. "What?"

"Nothing." Kyoya said, letting her hold his hand.

The two of them walked down the main road, Kyoya telling her about the history of the town before Rose pulled him to an ice cream cart bought herself a cream sickle. She brought him to a park and they sat down at a table.

"Do you think that Tamaki will ever get over his denial about his love for Haruhi?" Rose asked him out of the blue.

"Eventually." Kyoya said, watching Rose's lips slip over the ice cream in an almost vulgar manner. "I think he may need a push in the right direction. I don't think he'll do anything unless Haruhi makes the first move."

"I think Haruhi is in even more denial than he is. At least he sees that he is in love only he thinks it's a family setting." Rose added into the conversation. Her phone beeped from her purse and she moved to dig it out. "I think Haruhi needs an intervention." She said as she licked the ice cream nearly making Kyoya squirm. Rose didn't pay any attention to him as she pulled up her messages. She clicked her tongue and typed a reply before putting her phone back.

"Perhaps. Is it worth it to push them together?" Kyoya asked her. "Kaoru is still trying to decided on who to pursue. Haruhi or Renge."

"Oh please, he has no interest in Haruhi, he's totally in love with Nekozawa-senpai." Rose told him who stared at her. "You didn't notice how he behaved around him during that whole issue with his sister?" Thinking back on it, Kyoya had noticed little things. It had been Kaoru who had offered to help him. "He did have a crush on you for a little while too actually."

"I noticed. It was rather uncomfortable." Kyoya confessed.

"Yeah, I know. It's a strange feeling when you're around someone who has a crush on you and doesn't say anything..._Kyoya_." Rose accused. Kyoya pushed his glasses up his nose.

"I did not-" Kyoya began.

"No!" Rose stopped him, pointing her dripping ice cream at him. "I thought you had a crush on Kaoru but until that night we danced together I didn't know it was me you wanted. I can tell you want me Kyoya. The way you look at me, watch me, and the way you start to smile when I walk into a room and catch yourself. The way you stopped being fake around me after our family arranged our marriage. The way you-" Kyoya bent over the picnic table and pressed his lips to her in a firm kiss.

"Rose! I text you that we need to be leaving NOW and I find you kissing _him_ in the damn park!" The two separated and turned to find not only Zero but the rest of the Host Club. Tamaki had a sad look on his face and Zero was furious. Rose sighed threw the ice cream stick into the trash can. She pouted at her brother.

"I _know_ that...I just really don't care if she dead." Rose said with a frown. "Way to ruin the mood." Kyoya turned to look at her with disbelief.

"Come _on_. We have to get ready for a funeral." Zero said and left with others leaving Tamaki and Haruhi behind with them.

"I'm so sorry Rose." Tamaki said to her. Rose waved him off.

"Don't worry about it. It was bound to happen." She told him.

"What happened?" Kyoya asked her.

"My mother died of a drug over dose early in the morning." She told him as if she were giving him information about her last concert. "We have to make appearances in Italy at the harpy's funeral."

"You shouldn't talk about your mother like that." Haruhi said, genuinely upset with her. Rose scoffed at her.

"You don't know her. She was mentally and physically abusive." Rose told her. "The reason I'm hypoglycemic is because my mother told me I wasn't skinny enough since I was 8 and became anorexic when I was 12. She called me ugly so many times that now I have a panic attack if I go outside without makeup on. She pushed me down a flight of marble stairs when I was 6. She would hit me all the time for doing just the smallest thing wrong. Is that enough? There's more, much more darker things she did to me." The others were upset by the confession. "Jack has been my other parent to me since I was a child. My mother is nothing to me."

"I'm sorry." Haruhi apologized to her.

"Don't worry about it." Rose told her. "I still have to pretend I care."

As they walked back to the bed and breakfast Rose turned to Kyoya. "Do you want to go to the funeral with me. It's a good opportunity to meet my extended family. You don't have to if you don't want to."

"No, it's a good idea. Thank you." Kyoya thought that it was a great idea and a good way to meet the entire Palladio family at once.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

I thought that this was a good place to cut it off. Sorry for the short chapter! Thank you to everyone that reviewed and added this to their faves and alerts! THANK YOU!


	10. trouble

Woah! I'm updating so quickly? What can I say, I'm on a roll! Let me know what you think about this chapter. Please review!

Un-beta'ed still. T_T

Thanks!

Arsenal Averson

The funeral had been a tournament of courage and will power. It was a struggle for the Lawrence family to hold their tongue every time the pressed asked how they were doing or what they were feeling. Rose had gotten through it by being steered away from the paparazzi by Kyoya's strong hand guiding her away from the flashing lights. Eventually, someone asked her who he was to her. Kyoya sternly said that he was classmate and that they somewhere they needed to be. He rushed her off to her grandfather's home where they spent the rest of the day introducing Kyoya to the rest of the family.

()()()

"That was a long day." Rose said when she emerged from her room in a pair of shorts and a tank top ready to go to bed. Kyoya hummed his agreement and looked up from his newspaper. "Thanks for coming by the way."

"It wasn't a problem. You needed me here." Kyoya told her as he laid the paper on the coffee table. Rose sat down on the sofa and threw her legs over Kyoya's.

"And you got along great with the possible future in-laws. They all love you. Congrats." Rose said with a small grin. "My grandmother thinks I should wear a ring so no one will try to get between us." Rose winked at him. Kyoya ran a hand down up and down her leg.

"Do you want to?" He asked her. Rose blinked at him. Her heart beat quickened. Was he serious? She knew he would be willing to marry her for her name and was pretty sure he liked her, thanks to that kiss in the park.

"If you want me to." She replied, sending the ball back into his court. Kyoya's hand ran up her leg, past her knee. She could see the gears in his head turning.

"Alright then. I'll get you a ring." Kyoya said. Rose pulled at the gold chain around her neck and pulled out a diamond ring.

"Don't worry, I rescued my grandmother's ring from my mom's stuff." She told him, showing him the gorgeous ring. She took it off the chain and put in on her left ring finger. "There, this means I'm yours." She wagged her fingers at him. Kyoya caught her wagging fingers and kissed her palm.

"Mine?" He asked her, leaning over her.

"Yours, for now." She told him with a grin.

"For now?" He asked, moving closer.

"Yes, you have to prove you're interesting enough to stick around." She told him. "Or I might lose interest." Kyoya moved his face closer to her, leaning in to kiss her.

"Oh I am interesting enough for you to want me to stick around." He told her before closing the distance and kissing her softly on the lips. Rose wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

"Is that so?" She asked him when they pulled apart. "I think I need more data on that." She said and pulled him down into another kiss. She could feel his tongue licking at her lips asking for entrance and she opened her mouth to him. Rose snuck a hand under his shirt and touched his taunt stomach. Rose felt his hands on her body, roaming up from her hips to his hand cupping her breast. Rose wound her hands around him and scratched his back with her long pink nails. It wasn't enough to make him bleed and the other boy let out a moan. He ground his hips into her, making Rose moan herself. Eventually, Kyoya pulled away to catch his breath.

"Rose..." He moaned. He was hopelessly lost in her scent, her taste, the feel of her smooth skin and soft breast under his hands. "_Rose_." He groaned again and sucked on her neck, marking her. Never had he ever lost control like this with someone. He was thrilled and a little frightened at the same time. Rose moaned then groaned when she heard the others walking down the hall to her room.

"Damn it...Kyoya, someone's coming." She said, trying to push him off of her. Kyoya moved away, pulling down his shirt and smoothing back his hair. In a moment he had his mask back on. Rose pulled her shirt back into place when her brother walked into the room.

"Hey we're going to-" Zero looked at his sister and pointed to her neck. "_What the hell is __**that**__?_" He asked her in English, pointing to her neck. Rose rubbed her neck and glared at Kyoya.

"Good job Kyoya! You left a...uh_ hicky_ on my neck." She told him, not knowing the Japanese word for it.

"A what?" He asked and Rose pointed to her neck. Kyoya grinned.

"We're going to the bar." Zero said with a glare at Kyoya. He turned to his sister and added with a smile. "Do you want to join us?"

"Let me change." Rose told him and shooed everyone out of the room. When she emerged again a few minutes later she was wearing a short purple halter dress that clung to her body and showed most of her naked back. She walked past the group and Kyoya's eyes followed her earning a punch on the arm from Zero.

"Don't stare at my sister." He warned him.

"I can stare at my fiance all I want." He retorted. Rose turned to look at Haruhi, who they had procured a passport for at the last minute.

"You can't go to a bar dressed like that Haruhi." She told her. She steered her into her bedroom and dressed her in a black sequin mini dress and did her makeup, cute pink glossy lips and smoky eye shadow.

"Cute dress!" Hikaru and Kaoru gave the thumbs up and Tamaki was practically drooling. Haruhi just shrugged and the Host Club was off to the bar.

"Are you sure?" Haruhi asked the Lawrence twins as they approached the bar, which was more of a night club.

"Totally. We know the owner and the place is pretty clean. It's not like there's people doing lines of coke off the back of the toilets in the bathroom or sex or anything. We can leave if you feel uncomfortable." Zero reassured her as Rose went up to the bouncer and spoke to him in Italian.

The dance floor was moderately crowded but the group was escorted to a booth above the dance floor. Rose ordered two bottles of champagne and handed the waitress a small wad of Euros. The woman returned with nine glasses and two bottles.

Rose and Tamaki drank more than the others. The girl happily declared that she was going to drink to the demise of her evil mother. She threw her arms in the air, her diamond ring glittering the flashing lights and "The evil bitch is dead!". She laughed until she cried, holding onto Kyoya for dear life.

"Drink!" She told Kyoya, filling his glass for the second time. "No one cares if you drink here." She told him as he took a sip. Zero and Hikaru disappeared onto the dance floor. Soon after Rose was pulling Kyoya with her.

"I don't dance." He told her. "Not to this." He said as "Bad Romance" blared over the sound system. Rose pouted at him. He knew that even a drunk Rose could dance twice as well as Kyoya ever could sober.

"Fine, I'll find someone else." She told him and turned away from him to find a tall man in his twenties willing and eager to dance with her. Kyoya watched him pull her close and she continued to dance, not minding the proximity at all or that the man was obviously turned on. Glaring at the man, Kyoya pulled her away as bass pumped.

"_I don't want to be friends. No, I don't want to be friends. I don't want to be friends. Want your bad romance. Want you bad romance! I want your loving, I want your revenge. You and me could write a bad romance." _ Rose sang the words as she danced against him. She threw her head back, her blonde hair swinging in a wide arch, giving Kyoya a great view of the love mark he had giving her. He put one hand behind her head and pulled her into a fierce kiss as the song swelled and ended. Nearly everyone with a camera on their phone (including Kaoru) took a picture of the couple. Rose broke away, grinning at him like a Cheshire cat. Kyoya pulled her to him as the next song played.

"What are you doing to me Rose?" Kyoya asked her. He had never desired someone so much and the fact that she was all his made his desire for her stronger.

"You're doing that yourself." She whispered back and bit down gently on his earlobe. "You don't want to know what would happen when I really go after you. Or at least you don't want to right now." She kissed his cheek and moved off the dance floor. He watched her hip sway as he moved towards the VIP section and followed her.

"I'm ready to go. It's past midnight." Kaoru told them, Mori and Honey both nodded their agreement. "Nice dance moves by the way." Kaoru said with a wink.

"Jealous much?" Rose teased him back. "I'll go get the others."

The group walked back to the villa, Kyoya noticed that Rose was walking in heels on cobble stone awfully well for someone who was drunk.

"How well does your sister hold her alcohol?" He asked Zero.

"Champagne doesn't really get her drunk. She'd have to have a lot of it. That's why she chose it tonight." Zero told him. So Kyoya couldn't pass that kiss off as her being drunk but both of them were at least a little tipsy. Not enough to write off that kiss as drunken stupidity.

"Did you have fun Haruhi?" Rose asked her friend.

"Yeah, I did. Thanks." Haruhi replied making Tamaki brighten up since they had spent most of the night dancing together.

The next morning the group's breakfast was interrupted by a very angry Jack barging into the dining room with an angry scowl on his face.

"_Of all the stupid shit you could have done last night Rosabella, this has to be at the top of the list!" _Jack told her in English and threw a small stack of tabloids onto the table. On the cover of each of them was a picture of Rose and Kyoya kissing though Kyoya's face was obscured by the shadows on the dance floor. Her diamond engagement ring was glittering was visible and even some of them had enlarged it in a side shot. The headlines read everything from "_Rose Lawrence Partying the Night of Her Mother's funeral" _to "_Rose engaged after mother's funeral?" _or _"Rose Makes Drunken Spectacle after Mother's Funeral" _and "_Rose and Zero Lawrence Say Goodbye With Friends."_. The last one confused her a bit.

"_Fuck my life." _Rose said with despair.


	11. Boyfriend

"Ugh...I can't believe I did that! I was completely sober!" Rose complained to Haruhi as they walked the streets of Florence. Haruhi shrugged. It was decided that Rose and Kyoya would be separated for the day so Rose decided to show Haruhi Florence since they were already there. "Ok, not completely sober but sober enough to know better." Rose corrected.

"You really like Kyoya don't you?" Haruhi asked. "I thought you liked Mori."

"I did." Rose said with a sigh. "But he didn't talk and it was annoying. I mean, he's a great guy but I'm a damn chatter box and that's important. And Kyoya's so devious and kind and hot. I like a good looking smart guy who knows what he wants and how to get it, you know?"

"Uh...yeah..." Haruhi agreed though she really didn't. They turned a corner and were faced with il Duomo. "Wow." Haruhi said as she looked up at the massive building. "Is that a church? It's the biggest one I've ever seen!"

"It is a cathedral, the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. We call cathedrals basilicas in Italy." Rose told her as they walked towards the Baptistery.

"Look at all that detail. How long did it take to build?" Haruhi asked.

"I don't know...It's been rebuilt and added onto a lot so I really don't know." Rose confessed as they stood in front of the basilica. Haruhi pointed her camera up at the elaborate door and took a picture.

"Can we go inside?" Haruhi asked. Rose shrugged and led her into the building.

They spent close to an hour admiring the architecture and frescos in the basilica before leaving. "That was very beautiful."

"I'll show you something else that's cool. Come on." Rose happily dragged her friend to the Uffizi, the Galleria dell' Accademia, and the street market. Haruhi was browsing the stalls when Rose decided to be bold.

"What do you think of Tamaki?" Rose asked her as Haruhi bought a little statue of the Duomo for her apartment.

"Huh? Well, he's loud, kind of annoying, kind of stupid...I don't know." Haruhi answered.

"What if he left?" Rose asked. "Would you miss him?" Haruhi looked up at her, shocked and hurt by the idea.

"Of course I would!" She told her. Rose gave her a knowing smile and steered the conversation away.

()()()()()()()()

"Did you have a good day with Haruhi?" Kyoya asked when he joined Rose out on the terrace before dinner. He sat down next to her and watched her twirl her antique diamond ring, watching the large stone surrounded by smaller diamonds and along the band spin around her slim finger. She looked up from her script to him.

"It was fun. I showed her the sights and got to share the city with her. It's always fun to see someone see il Duomo for the first time." She said. Rose sat her script down on the table and leaned forward. "Kyoya. Jack and your father decided it will be best to announce our engagement and set a date."

"For someone so upset about being forced into an arranged marriage you're taking this rather lightly." Kyoya commented. Rose smiled at him.

"I guess I've grown attached to you. I guess you like me too. I know you aren't just interested in my family business. I think you like me for me." Rose said.

"I thought you were intriguing when I first started researching you when I heard you were in our class. I saw you for the first time and..." Kyoya stopped himself and let the sentence hang. "I thought you were more than that. Granted, I did still have a soft spot Kaoru and I was disappointed when you showed interest in Mori."

"So it was love at first sight?" She asked with a goofy smile and Kyoya huffed and pushed his glasses up his nose.

"I wouldn't call it that but...maybe." Kyoya said and sat back to read his newspaper. Kyoya didn't see Rose's knowing smile.

()()()()()()()

"Hey boys!" Rose greeted as she walked out to the pool in her push-up halter top string bikini before lunch. This time it was Kyoya's turn to stop Rose in her tracks. She watched Kyoya push himself out of the pool, water dripping off of his naked chest. He looked so different without his glasses. "Hey babe!" She said, her eyes roving over him as she walked to the deep end to dive in. She swam over to where Kyoya was sitting on the edge of the pool and pulled him in. When Kyoya resurfaced she was grinning. "You look cute without your glasses."

"You look cute without your curly hair." He retorted. Rose could feel her hair, heavy from the weight of the water and knew it would now fall closer to her waist if she got out of the pool.

"You think so?" She asked. She had always liked her curly hair (well, most of the time) and never really thought about straightening it.

"Yes." He told her as she moved closer.

"Get a room!" Hikaru yelled at them and threw a beach ball at Rose's head. She caught it and threw it back hitting him in the face. The pool erupted in horse play as the teenagers fought with water guns and pool toys until Tamaki declared that they were going to play Marco Polo.

After a day play in and lounging around the pool, the teenagers all went their separate ways. After an hour everyone was in the parlor but Rose. Hikaru and Zero cuddled up on the sofa and the others lounged about ready magazines or playing video games. Haruhi was reading a book that she gotten at the Statue of David exhibit that was about Florence. A good deal of time later Rose joined them wearing a strapless purple maxi dress, wooden bracelets, and carrying a book with her. But what caught them by surprise was the extra time Rose had taken after drying her hair to straighten it. She sat next to Kyoya and opened her book. Kyoya smiled before turning back to his magazine.

**THE GAZETTE **

**Recent pictures of Rose Lawrence dancing the night away just after the funeral of her mother with her friends and brother in tow has had people talking. Not to mention the huge diamond spotted on her ring ringer has rumors buzzing. Luckily, we were able to get Rose Lawrence on the phone for an interview.**

**How are you doing?**

_**Oh, I'm fine. Thank you.**_

**You seem to be taking your mother's death rather well.**

_**It's a very, very long story but let's just say I got over losing her years ago. She hasn't been in my life on a regular basis since I was 8 years old. **_

**Why is that?**

_**It's no secret my mother had a drug problem. Just look at the way she died. She was out casted by the family since she refused to get clean. My father didn't want her influencing myself or my brother that way. He wanted us to stay away from her and her friends so we wouldn't grow up to be those wild kids you see drinking every weekend and getting caught doing drugs. **_

**So you don't drink or party?**

_**I won't lie. I do drink in places where it's legal for a 17 year old to drink but I haven't touched a drink while living in America or Japan.**_

**Speaking of which, how is life in Japan?**

_**Oh it's great! I absolutely love it there. I've met a lot of really great friends.**_

**How's school going for a non-native speaker?**

_**Very hard but Ouran has so many great teacher. **_

**Ouran's that legendary prep school for the super wealthy isn't it?**

_**Yes it is. It's an amazing and fun school. I enjoy going to school there. I made a lot of really great friends there. **_

**Is that where you met that boy you were dancing with? **

_**Um...yes...you could say that. He's Kyoya Ootori, he's in my class. Our families have been doing business with each other for years. We got along great and our families arranged a marriage. I wasn't very happy about it but after our first date I started to change my mind. Now I'm really considering it. That's why I wear the ring. **_

**So you're engaged?**

_**Yes. In a manner of speaking, we are engaged. I would consider him my boyfriend and not my fiancé right now. But for now, we're still engaged. Does that make sense at all? [laughs]**_

Kyoya put the magazine down with a smile.

"You've been doing that a lot lately." Tamaki commented. Kyoya stared at him before the mask went up again. "She's good for you." Tamaki said.


End file.
